During the season when the Grammys, the Brits, and the NME Awards celebrate the movers and shakers and the year's musical achievements, one teenager from Mid Wales is preparing his bid to become the next Noel Gallagher.

Clovis Phillips, a pupil of Newtown High School's Sixth Form Centre, is to release an EP on the newly established 'Cerdd Newydd' record label. At only 17 years of age, he already has four years of mainstream musical experience, both as a solo artist and with his group, Like Child.

"My songwriting process begins quite randomly, usually when I'm walking up the stairs or something," comments Clovis. "I'll get three or four words in a line or a little line of melody, and I'll go back to the guitar and strum a few chords. It'll be the first thing that comes into my head that I play, usually a chord sequence."

Since the humble beginnings of his first group Brick ("we played two gigs under that name," laughs Clovis), the youngster has earned a deserved reputation for intelligent musical endeavour, combining deep and sensual lyrics with driving guitar riffs. "I'll basically put the first words that I can think of down on paper, and tweak it from there," Clovis opines on the topic of his lyrics. "When I'm writing my lyrics, I usually start with a completely clean slate. I very rarely revisit something that I've done previously.

"It just happens. I've written nearly all of the songs in just a couple of minutes, because if I take time to think about them it'll just end up sounding pretentious." For this latest collection of songs, however, Clovis has adopted a much lighter approach, playing atmospheric acoustic songs with lyrics whose poetry harks back to a young Bob Dylan.

"I have been thinking more about the lyrics on my more recent work, particularly the EP. Lyrics used to be second to the music. Now, I think lyrics should be either first or equal to the music. They are the first thing that people really listen to when they listen to a song."

So, with all this experimentation and changing of direction, is Clovis any closer to finding his niche? "I'm getting closer to finding my niche now. I don't think I've quite found it yet. The recent stuff is a lot lighter and acoustic. I've moved away from Pink Floyd-influenced, 60s riff-based heavy stuff. It's much more technical and more subtle now.

"If I was asked for influences, there would have to be two: Damon Albarn of Blur and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Not so much their heavier songs, but their lighter, more acoustically arranged tracks. It's the simplicity of tracks such as 'Half the World Away' and 'The Masterplan' that I really admire."

'Cerdd Newydd' is the brainchild of Dewi Owen, a newly-appointed music teacher at Newtown High School. Its primary aim is to promote the school's precocious musical talent, and gives bands within the school the opportunity to get heard and to record their own material.

The whole project began when Dewi, - who had been given a CD of Clovis's 4-track recordings - began to notice the youngster's raw virtuosity. He offered Clovis the chance to record some tracks professionally with him.

It is, in fact, not the first time a project of this nature has been attempted by Dewi. At his previous school in Manchester, a local band named Tin Fish were given a similar opportunity to progress musically.

When Dewi's name is mentioned, Clovis is quick to praise the architect of the project.

"He made me realise I could become a solo artist. I hadn't had that sort of assurance from a person in the music business before. I'd only spoken to friends and family, who of course will naturally praise what you do."

Remarkably, Clovis was only ever taught three chords on the guitar.

"I can still remember the day I began playing. My dad brought out a classical 'starter' guitar, and I just haven't stopped playing ever since."

On its release in April, Clovis's EP will feature five tracks, with every instrument played by the man himself. The small matters of CD duplication (the guitarist has estimated that approximately 500 will be pressed) and album covers are being finalised.

News of a showcase concert, in which Clovis and his musicians will play the EP's tracks to local press, fans, and music enthusiasts, will be announced shortly. For now, at least, one 17-year-old is beginning to follow in the footsteps of his musical idols, and is journeying down the long and winding road of the music industry.

By Matthew Walters from Newtown High School