Hometown: Brighton. The lineup: Josh Christopher (music, vocals) and Melis Soyaslanová (vocals, melodies). The background: Heres another addition to those Ones To Watch in 2014 lists. Suddenly loads are emerging, confirming our view that the overall standard of new music is probably higher than it has ever been (even if genius is as scarce as ever), mainly because there is so much history to draw on in terms of influence and the technology to make it is so accessible and cheap. A band like Iyes (pronounced "eyes") wouldnt cost much to get off the ground. For a start, theyre not a band, there are only two of them: Josh Christopher from Birmingham and Melis Soyaslanová from Prague, which nobody to date has ever described as the Birmingham of the Czech Republic. And their equipment - including instruments and the "backline" gear to amplify same - we imagine could probably be acquired for less than the price of a decent electric guitar. Theyre one of those "small, mobile and intelligent" units that Robert Fripp dreamed of all those decades ago. Economically viable, too. Their story is a study in economy, too. They got together in Brighton a year ago when Christopher, a multi-instrumentalist then fronting a band called 000, invited friends to his flat for drinks. One of them brought along Soyaslanová, a student at Brightons Institute of Modern Music who had been making avant-garde music for years. Soon, theyd written a track, Lighthouse, they posted it on SoundCloud, and within a week they had 10,000 listens as well as a bunch of rave blog reviews. Lighthouse was xx-y, spare and atmospheric, with hisnhers vocals intertwining with the crackle of sexual intrigue, a slow-build approach that kept you listening till the end, and a climactic finale that suggested Arcade Fire in a prayer meet with Chvrches.