Boy - Boy

Boasting the sort of left-of-centre, slightly rococo balladry of Rufus Wainwright or Hawksley Workman, Boy (a.k.a. Stephen Noel Kozmeniuk) is a wonder to behold in these days of formulaic pop. The 20-year-old native of Whitehorse, Yukon uses clarinets, strings and offbeat art-rock songs like “French Diplomacy” and “Rose-Marie’s Café” that could only come from someone removed from the commercial influence of big-city music scenes. With a voice that sounds either jaunty or jaundiced, Boy is surprisingly bracing—like an unexpected Arctic breeze.