ALFIE Cicale gave up his steady job working in a factory in the Midlands to fulfill his dream of becoming a musician. So far this 27-year-old has got a backlog of songs and a passion to see it through.

Alfie, now living in Wooburn Green, first contacted me in February this year asking for help to find backing musicians so he could perform live. The review of his acoustic album prompted interest and now the band and Alfie are going to do battle at the Litten Tree, High Wycombe, tomorrow night, for the MGD Undiscovered semi-finals. This is the hottest competition search for new bands and artists in the UK, and involves sponsorship from a variety of companies in the music business.

There were 725 entries this year after the contestants saw the audition entries in the NME music magazine. Alfie's music has seen him through the national heats which began in July, and now the competition has moved to High Wycombe. Wednesday night is the semi-final for this area, and Alfie will be performing against three other contestants from Berkshire.

If he wins this round he will be performing on November 2, in the finals at The Ocean in Hackney, London. And, if he wins the entire competition, he'll get signed and have a single release of his own material under the MGD Record Label.

It all sounds so easy but he'll need local support.

Alfie's music is a bit of conundrum in the fact that it sounds like something familiar and yet is very much his own sound. Playing the demo CD in the office I had comments from my colleagues saying: "Is that the new Toploader album? It sounds just like The Beatles is it Oasis?" All very wrong in their assumption but that's just the problem.

The recording is so well produced that you really need to stop and listen. Underneath the layer of easy listening is the sound of something good Alfie's songwriting talent. Yes it's sentimental but it's not candyfloss. Take for example the lyrics from Fake Un Natural End about a relationship break-up: "The lies that I once sent you weren't from my heart, I had to make you hate me...don't think that I could ever be just good friends."

But it's not all melancholy with Alfie, a lot of his work shows his Scilian charm and Northern humour together in creating songs which are experimental in sound yet easy to listen to.

Let's hope it's enough to see him through the tough scrutiny of the MGD Unsigned judges.