AUSTRIAN rock acts are about as rare as famous Belgians, which is odd considering Vienna was home to Beethoven, Strauss and Mozart. We’ll gloss over Falco the one-hit-wonder, perhaps, but now here comes the Sohn.

Can this Viennese multi instrumentalist really become the first famous Austrian since Hitler and Nikki Lauda? In part yes, as long as we discount the fact that his real name is Christopher Taylor and he originally hails from London, because Sohn’s debut is really quite good.

It’s a bedfellow to the new Wild Beasts album; all Pink Floyd, Faust and Amon Duul II, washing over falsetto vocals, and as glacial the ice field cover sleeve.

Current single Artifice aside, there’s nothing revelatory here, but Sohn has enough of the night about him to give his work a pleasing dark side.

Earthquake metaphors also abound on Tremors and while it may not be ground breaking stuff, this album offers a welcome insight into the uncharted inland waters of Viennese electronica.

For that reason alone it’s worth checking out. Roll over Beethoven, anyone?