I first encountered singer-songwriter Alfie Butel at Chaos 2018 when he and his band Mezra travelled over from Jersey to take part in the Sound Guernsey Battle Of The Bands, which they went on to win in convincing fashion.

Having returned and impressed again the following the year, now, another year later Alfie has released his debut solo single proper, Mexico marking the next stage in the musical life for this still very young performer.

At only 18 he’s already been performing music live, in way or another, for nine years which likely goes some way to explaining why this sounds quite so complete, as both a song and a recording, and why it features, for the most part, such a mature musical outlook.

Falling somewhere between the heartfelt honesty of Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager era Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and the light hearted acoustic indie of Barenaked Ladies, an odd combination and comparison I realise, it has a great fun tone with something more within the lyrics.

While clearly based on a solid acoustic guitar foundation the recording features a full band sound (which if all played by Alfie is especially impressive) along with layered vocals that allow a kind of dialogue to take place from just one voice that is particularly effective and adds something more than you get from many solo tracks.

While in a way it feels like it finishes just as it’s getting going, at just under four minutes you wouldn’t really want a pop song to be any longer and leaving you wanting more is no bad thing in this instance.

Mexico then is a great debut single for Alfie Butel and, if full scale live music were to be allowed again this summer, it could be an anthem for the season.