Whilst the title of Reading's second biggest singer-songwriter is hardly a hotly contested one, it's one Ben Marwood has fought hard for nonetheless.

A position cemented by 2011's long-awaited debut album Outside There's A Curse, released by independent London-based label Xtra Mile which also plays home to his firm friends Frank Turner and Chris T-T, not to mention Dive Dive, Beans on Toast and Crazy Arm, Marwood's own brand of side-swiping, tongue-in-cheek folk has seen him build up a steady following since the debut single of 2007, Hold Your Breath, and mini-album This Is Not What You Had Planned back in 2008, the latter on Marwood's own Broken Tail Records.

Recorded on a digital eight-track on his bedroom floor, the ten tracks of Outside There's A Curse took over a year to piece together before being picked up by Xtra Mile in the summer of 2010 and eventually released in early 2011. The album was backed first by a headline tour of England in early 2011, and then with an opening support slot on Frank Turner's UK tour of small venues in May of the same year, along with songwriter Franz Nicolay. A second headline tour of England is expected at the end of 2011.

Kerrang! awarded Outside There's A Curse four Ks out of a potential five, whilst Rocksound described the album as "bold, intelligent and wholesome".

Three tracks also appear on the split EP Exclamation At Asterisk Hash, which features three tracks from Bristol-based Oxygen Thief and Cheltenham's Jim Lockey, of Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun.

Marwood can currently be found holed up in Reading writing a second album due for release in 2012.

Marwood is just generally a godlike music figure.

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