Ben Esser is more talented than you.

At just 23, the Essex native has already had a lifetime of music successes: two major label record deals signed, work done with Cee-Lo and Prince Paul, stadium-filing tours with Kaiser Chiefs, even a photo shoot with Hedi Slimane.

But even with all that behind him, Esser is also a total sweetheart. Not 20 minutes after his New York debut at Le Royale last night, he was content to sit on a stoop and take questions, from music writers and homeless-smelling hipsters alike. The hipster questions have been redacted to protect the innocent, but everything else is totally true.
So here you are, trying to break the US!
Yeah! It's a weird concept. It's so huge, so vast. I don't know how you even make a dent.

Where else are you playing while you're over here?
We're doing Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco.

I've read that music was a very social, participatory thing for you when you were growing up. Do you think that's an unusual experience these days?
Well I think, when people start making music, first of all, it's the place that they go to, the place that they feel safe, you know? It's the one spot you can go and be on your own. And at one point, you're kind of becoming a teenager and it's acceptable to go out together and all of a sudden you know something about music, or the music you were really passionate about, you start sharing it with other people. That's what a song like "Stop Dancing", the last track on my record, is about. That feeling of everyone being into the music at the same point.

Feeling and hearing the same things.
Yeah exactly. That's a really important thing for me in my life, to see all kinds of people united together. It's an amazing thing!

And you've had a wide experience with people being in that kind of place. You used to play in cover bands that would do old Beatles songs and stuff, playing at the English seaside.
[laughs] Yeah that was bizarre. That was kind of odd.

How old were you when you were doing that?
15.

So, old enough to get hit on by drunken middle-aged cougars.
[laughs] Yyyyyyyyeah.

Moving on right along then, where're you from?
I was born in Essex, right outside of London. My dad's from Mauritius and my mum's English.

And just how many instruments can you play?
Well, I kind of...I don't really play stuff properly.
[laughs] On the record, I play bass, keyboards, drums. But the bits where the guitar's being played really well, that's someone else [laughs]. I think I spent so long learning how to play piano and drums properly, you get to know where the keys are. You know what's going to happen when you sit down and you play this chord. With a guitar, I don't know what's going to happen when I put my fingers on the fretboard, and that's exciting for me. I never wanna get past that stage. I wanna kind of remain a beginner.

So at what point did you decide you were ready to write songs? You started relatively late...
I just kind of felt like everything I was doing separately - I was making electronic music, doing beats and that kind of thing, I was playing drums in bands and a bit of piano as well, guitar - they were all separate things. But when I started singing on stuff, and writing proper songs, pop songs, then I realized I could use all these things I was doing.

But when did you start singing?
The first time I started singing properly...I mean, I'd done backing vocals, but it's not the same thing. I only started singing my own stuff about two and a half years ago.

And you spent a lot of time really picking apart pop music, too. Studying everything that was on BBC Radio One and stuff.
I think I kind of realized that, I was listening to so much music, and the stuff on the radio [would take] all this stuff on the fringes, all this underground-sounding music would eventually just filter down into this little spout that would end up on the radio. And it's kind of interesting to think about how much culture you can compress into three and a half minutes. And I think that's what a great pop song is, you know what I mean?

That philosophy does seem to inform a lot of Braveface. Hand-claps and autotuning will just come in out of nowhere, and even tonight, you led into "Headlock" with a loop from "A Milli". Are all of those things just happy accidents? Is that something you prioritized when working on this album in the studio?
Well, I dunno. It's a mix. For this album, I wanted this album to make itself. I wanted to just get it out. It's a hurdle to get over, making the first album. I know that my first album's not going to be my best album. I could've worked with these songs over and over and gotten different people in or made it more commercial, but I just wanted to get them across. And some of those songs are the first songs I ever wrote, really old demos that were extended into the songs now on the record. It's just kind of like me remembering those times. It's amazing to me that the record that I made in my bedroom is now being played in clubs in New York or on the radio. I don't want to lose that.

Why did you decide to work with Lexxx? Was that something your label suggested? Because you worked with a couple of different people before settling on him...
I met Lexxx and he'd done a mix for Crystal Castles and I really liked what he'd done. I heard the demo, and I heard what he'd done to it, and the role that he played, mixing the songs, not necessarily producing but more mixing, was great for me. I tried to work with a few producers before, and I think at that time - I dunno, maybe I'm more willing to let people do stuff now [laughs] - but with Lexxx it was just the right level of interference. [laughs]

Speaking of producers, you're a huge Joe Meek fan! I heard you're going to get a tattoo of him on your chest! Is he going to be smiling or looking serious?
Uhh, I'm not getting it on my chest anymore. I'm getting him on my arm. Chest would be weird, I think. [laughs]

So are you a closeted pop classicist? Late 50's, early 60's rock 'n' roll? Do you secretly resent the filthy longhairs who came in afterwards and ruined rock 'n' roll?
[laughs] A little bit, actually. I like the idea of subtleties in the music, that everything is overtly, but not explicitly sexual.

You prefer craftsmanship to an indulgent head trip.
I do. It's a bit disappointing that you can say everything you want to say, outright. There's nothing underneath it, there's no weight. When Akon sings in that song of his, "I wanna make love now now now now" it's like, "...Fucking hell." [laughs] It doesn't go far beyond that now, does it? In that time, you needed to be tactile in the way that you said things and you had to use words that maybe not everybody would be able to latch onto the meaning. I like those layers.

Is there anybody you look up to, currently?
Oh yeah definitely. There's this guy called frYars who's really amazing. We're good friends. It's always awkward when friends pass you CDs, but his is really good. I've been listening to his album loads. We're always on the phone. Actually, I've recorded loads of our conversations with my phone and I'm going to do something with them, because they're always really weird. He's someone that's great. Golden Silvers are another one.

You seem, at least on the outside, like an incredibly polished artist. Is there anything you think you need to improve upon?
I dunno. I think I just want to keep on doing stuff. That's the main thing I've always done. Just carry on being inspired and carry on writing, carry on making music in whatever context it is. And feel that if I'm not writing songs for myself, I'm producing songs for other people, or doing remixes or stuff like that.

You did a Little Boots remix recently which we posted on our site. Do you see yourself continuing to do those?
I'm trying to do as much remix stuff as possible. It's interesting, because you do stuff with remixes that you would never do in your own songs, but then you go back to it, and think, "Oh, I actually could use something like that." The next record I do is gonna be completely different, so I'm using the remixes to [test things out]. I did some beats for Cee-Lo, which is really cool, and I'm going to be using the kind of production techniques from that...

Well, speaking of improving and staying busy, tell me a bit about your live show. I remember reading somewhere that, in its infant stages, the show was kind of crude and stiff. But you guys have built things up nicely! Do you have a dictatorial role in your set?
I'm getting less like a dictator. [laughs] As I'm becoming more confident in the stuff that I'm doing, I'm more willing to let people do stuff, and the band's growing into a band. Everyone's doing their stuff, and it's really nice. I've seen so many bands where it's apparent that someone's just told each member what to do, and they just don't look excited by the parts they're playing. And you've got to be excited by your parts!

Does your brother [drummer Rory Esser] piss you off during rehearsals and stuff?
No, he's good! He's well-behaved! [laughs]

So much musical talent in your family. Is there another brother who secretly plays congas on the record?
There's five of us! I've got three brothers and a sister. [yawns] I need to wake up really early tomorrow. This is the first tour I've been on where they've got me on curfew. I like the work ethic, they've got me working really hard, it's great.

So you're ready to take on America. How crazy is your life at home now, though? Can you even leave your flat without getting pointed and stared at?
It's fine. I just put my hair down! [laughs]

But you're not overwhelmed or anything? You don't feel like you need to catch your breath or anything?
Nah not really. During festivals, it's going to be a bit crazier. And as far as clubs that play that kind of music [my music], I just don't go. [laughs] I can't.

Last two questions, and then you have to go finish loading out. First and last albums you bought with your own money.
Uh, I haven't bought an album for so long, it's really bad! The first thing I bought was the Outhere Brothers, I got that on cassette. You know, "boom boom boom, lemme hear y'say whay yo"? The last thing I bought was the Kanye West album [laughs]

Esser's short North American tour continues tomorrow, June 17, at Wrongbar in Toronto. His album, Braveface, is available in the UK and will be released in the U.S. later this year. Buy your import copy here.