Adrian Roye

Adrian Roye's richly emotive vocals and lyrical guitar playing lie at the heart of the Exiles' music, in the vein of soulful singer-songwriters like Ben Harper, Tracy Chapman and Jeff Buckley. Roye's songs can veer dramatically in mood between haunting, soaring and infectiously upbeat, but explore narratives about characters or states of being that are usually consigned to the margins. The Exiles' versatile arrangements also take the songs outside the usual territory of singer-songwriters. There's a strong folk and afrobeat influence to the music, with cello, mandolin and high-life guitar being a regular feature, and other roots genres make their way into the mix as well: here and there you can hear hints of reggae, calypso and funk. Adrian and the Exiles are due to record their debut album in Summer 2011.
'The variety of styles and the quality of the songs is absolutely terrific. this is all original and as a songwriter Roye has huge potential.' 4/5 stars, Andy Snipper, music-news.com