He of Moldy Peaches fame, Green is one of those wonderfully idiosyncratic American singer/songwriters whose material resonates with echoes of Gram Parsons, Calexico and Leonard Cohen. On Gemstones there is no fat, only lean. His songs are short, punchy - not one is longer than 2 minutes 50 seconds long - lyrically dextrous and, at the end of the day, just plain damn catchy. Green's songs are tales of an alternative America, riven with dark and at times Burlesque humour.

He's A Brat sounds like something Donny Osmond would have recorded thirty years ago if he'd been whacked out on acid at the time, with its chirpy singalong sound and deftly dark lyrics. Green is not afraid to tackle a love song or two either, as on Who's Your Boyfriend?, but it's still done with a twist, while it's on songs like Chubby Princess that Green truly shines. This man doesn't believe in bad news before lunch, oh no.