Jess Mills - Gabriel

She's one of the brightest new pop talents making waves in 2012, and with the release of her delightfully fizzy single Pixelated People on the horizon (think Katy B crossed with Sunday Girl) things are looking promising indeed for Jess Mills.

Pushing further down the path of enchanting ethereal synth-pop, Jess turns her hands to covering Roy Davis Jr's Gabriel here - the results are a smoothly ambient stream of Balearic bliss. It's slick contemporary pop, the kind of stuff to unite radio airwaves and neon-painted club dancefloor in union - plus, those jazzy horn riffs that pop up halfway through are just divine.

Gabriel features on the Pixelated People digital bundle, available to download from the 29th January.

Jess Mills - Gabriel by Jess Mills

Jess Mills - Pixelated People

When looking for ones to watch in the coming year, a general rule of thumb is to cast your eye over who did well in the year just coming to a close. Katy B ended becoming one of 2011's biggest, most universally acclaimed artists, so it was only to be expected that record labels would be clamouring to nab a new, similar artist.

Signed to Island we have Jess Mills, a photogenic beauty whose brand of dark, ethereal dance-pop sounds like the most wonderful and colour-imbued of dreams. The chorus of new single Pixelated People jerks and sparks across the speakers like an offshoot of lightning, low-fi synth rhythms bursting into existence and blossoming outwards like flowers.

Pixelated People feels effortlessly cool - even the title tells of a knowing engagement with social tropes and the digital trends of today. This is clever, powerful pop, all unleashed to a cracking beat.

As the track fades away on its hotbed of grumbling bass and star-light electronics, the lasting impression is an overwhelming eagerness for more. Pixelated People - a tantalising appetiser of what's to come in 2012 from Jess Mills.

Pixelated People is released on the 12th February.