Spotlight: 15 for 2015 ‘Ones To Watch’ – Dornik

Throughout the month, we’ll be documenting our ’15 for 2015′ Ones To Watch. This time, it’s Dornik:

When a new artist lands in your inbox, accompanied by the words “played drums for Jessie Ware”, you know you’ve got to sit up and take note. And that’s precisely what we did earlier this year with Dornik, the new(ish) future-soul artist signed to PMR (the home of Ware, alongside some of the biggest breakout artists over the past couple of years).

Upon first listen to Dornik, you’d be surprised he was from this side of the pond…. admittedly the UK is pretty shit at developing strong soul exports comparative to our US counterparts, but Dornik hits the nail-on-its-head from the word go. Sultry, funky, soulful, and above-all, creating some the most pleasing homages to Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall that we’ve ever heard before. On My Mind, released back toward the end of the summer, is probably the most closely-related to the aforementioned classic record, whilst there’s some clear modern-day influences thrown in to Dornik’s September follow-up, Second Thoughts. Ultimately though, what makes the prospect of British soul all the more exciting, is the fact that Dornik’s debut Something About You, achieved ‘just’ a B-grade as part of his GCSE coursework.

We’re hopeful for a full-length debut album to land at some point next year, though in the meantime you’ll just have to make do with some of Dornik’s impressive Soundcloud uploads.