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Rod Thomas is apparently one of the most recognised buskers on the London Underground with features about him on BBC London news and in thelondonpaper. Wait, come back. A crusty dog-on-a-string type wailing painful versions of Lay Lady Lay and Streets of London as you try to squeeze on to the tube he is not. He's a seriously good songwriter with a super-light pop touch who enhances his acoustic guitar-based tunes with a synth, a loop pedal for beats and handclaps, and if he had the chance, the opportunity and the funding, he'd probably chuck in an orchestra as well – you can just imagine the strings swelling epically as the chorus rises on Same Old Lines, his new single.

But don't feel too sorry for him and start scrabbling around in your pocket for loose change. He's not doing badly. He might be unsigned and having to put out his single on his own label, Self Raising, but Same Old Lines was produced by Julian Simmons (Guillemots, Midlake) and has been played for 17 consecutive weeks on Radio 1 Introducing, he's supported the likes of Sparks, Kathryn Williams and Noah & the Whale on tour and the single is accompanied by a video, all 70s kids TV show lunacy and dodgy sock puppets, put together by the team behind recent Noah & the Whale, Laura Marling and Mystery Jets promos.

Mostly, you don't need to pity the boy from Wales because he really is quite talented and the songs he's churning out really are quite lovely. How to categorise them is another matter. They're folky and forlorn, yes, but the beats are electronic and the handclaps crisp and urgent, the sort of rhythmic device you hear on disco records – this is probably why his music's been described as acoustic disco; we're going to go one further and call it folk funk, but then, we're crazy like that. There are aspects of the techno troubadour's act we're not comfortable with. At Glastonbury and Latitude this year he encouraged his audiences to clap and sing along, and some of his music does tend towards the crowd-pleasingly banal and happy-clappy. But songs like Your Love is a Tease, As If and You Get Goodbyes veer more towards the plaintive pop-with-a-pulse of Pet Shop Boys and Prefab Sprout, and - we're not imagining this - a number of other artists have discerned the music's potential for electrification, providing remixes and all manner of fussy cross-rhythms, although really the songs' beauty lies in their stark simplicity.
The buzz: "Joyous lo-fi folk-pop; folk with a flourish, a snap and a pop, and a few glances in the general direction of disco."

The truth: Sad chords + simple beats = the greatest Rod in pop since that bloke with the croaky voice and bird's nest hair.

Most likely to: Make you miss your tube.

Least likely to: See his career go down the tube.

What to buy: Same Old Lines is released by Self Raising on October 6.

File next to: James Yuill, Jack Penate, Guillemots, Paddy McAloon.
- Guardian.co.uk

"...sculpts and builds perfrect pop gems..." - Wales Music