Tim Hughes looks forward to a night of vintage charm courtesy of the ringmaster of brooding pop, Duke Special.

BRACINGLY eccentric, oddly attired and heavily dreadlocked singer-songwriter Duke Special is one of those artists whose purpose upon this world is surely to get people thinking.

He has been described variously as the ringmaster of a broken down circus, the lead dancer in a forgotten ballroom of ghosts, the loudest singer in a midnight choir, and the first on his knees in an old time revival tent.

Take his new album I Never Thought This Day Would Come, which is described as a record for sleepwalkers, skeletons and gravediggers.

A more immediate and visceral collection than the peculiarly monikered Belfast musician’s previous multi-platinum selling Songs From The Deep Forest, the new album’s many moments of beauty and hope are juxtaposed with a dark, brooding edge – the trademark twist of the Duke.

Recorded between Wapping, London; Champaign, Illinois; and Culleybackey, in Northern Ireland, it features collaborations with musicians as diverse as Daniel Benjamin – drummer with German punk band Jumbo Jet, Paul Pilot, Phil Wilkinson and Suede’s Bernard Butler - a change from previous playing partners Rufus Wainwright, Van Morrison, Ray Davies of The Kinks, Ireland’s 60-piece strong RTE Symphony Orchestra, and The Muppets!

Duke – aka Peter Wilson – describes his lushly ambitious sound as ‘hobo-chic’.

Certainly, it’s alluringly romantic, if distinctly bruised. His is a world unlike any other – a place filled with vaudeville sensibility, sing-alongs and addictive melodies.

“My sound is a bit vagabondy, but pure and soulful too,” he explains.

“Before this I was desperately trying to find my voice and the kind of music that really sat well with who I was.

“I’d been in a couple of rock bands, but I always imagined people of all ages at our concerts, so started working on demos with a friend, producer Paul Wilkinson, and Duke Special was born.”

Growing up with a large family, he soon learnt how to cut his musical teeth.

“I used to listen to their records.

I recall a box of singles that contained things like Joe Jackson’s Different for Girls, The Goodies and my Dad’s suspect country and western records.

We sung in church too, and I remember trying to get the bass lines and harmonies before my voice broke. As I grew up I also listened to traditional music, which influenced my melodic senses, so it all went from there.”

A tour de force in the studio, he’s equally vibrant on stage, as punters at the 02 Academy Oxford will discover on Wednesday.

He is joined in concert by a small collective of eccentric musicians – Temperance Society Chip Bailey (drums /percussion), Councillor Réa Curran (trumpet/ harmonium) and Morris-Dancing Ben Hales (guitar/backing vocals).

And his performances easily match the music for sheer grandeur and individuality, with the stage frequently adorned with an old gramophone, a velvet-encased piano, Stumpf fiddles and collection of makeshift instruments.

It’s all so gloriously vintage, he admits.

“What I’m trying to put across is something that’s more than just a singer-songwriter playing his songs,” he says.

“I want it to be a show that moves people, but also entertains them too.”

Like the soundtrack to a modern-day fairytale, he perfect balances the old and new, combining the appeal of a three-minute pop song with the incessant charm of an old-school music hall.

“I want to capture something dusty and beautiful on record,” he says.

“Something that sounds like Christmas smoking through an old wooden radio.”

Duke Special plays the 02 Academy Oxford on Wednesday. Tickets are £10 in advance from the venue or www.tctmusic.co.uk I Never Thought This Day Would Come is properly released in March, but, yes fans, is already available via the man’s website, on CD, Limited Special Edition CD and double vinyl.

The Special Edition comes in a special box containing three different booklets, an enamel badge, and (here’s the good bit) a paint set and painting competition, which will be judged by kids’ television legend Tony Hart, pictured right! And the prize? Only a visit by Duke Special, who will play a gig in your own house!

So get painting!