Photo: Xander the Great / Facebook

Introducing Xander the Great - who are, in fact, a duo. And only one of them's called Xander. However, even though your illusions have now been well and truly shattered, it's still worth checking them out - they're a darkly unique R&B duo who are not to be missed. Just don't compare them to The Weeknd.

"We were both massive fans of The Weeknd - we still are, but we're trying to stay away from being compared to him as much as possible, really," says the non-Xander half of the duo, Ed Sanders. "We've had him and we've had Frank Ocean and they're huge compliments, but we're trying to stay away from just being another this or another that."

There's no doubt that Xander the Great take a more unusual approach to their influences - choosing to eschew being inspired by other artists and turning instead to art and architecture.

"We tend to steer away from an idol or an influence as much as possible because, before you know it, you're trying to replicate something," Ed explains. "We're both massive fans of art, and we're massive fans of architecture. As lame as it sounds, most of our influences actually come from things like paintings and pieces of architecture and that's where we'll get a sound from."

Ed is classically trained in music, whereas Xander is entirely self-taught, which provides an interesting dynamic between the two. Having said that, don't expect to hear classical playing in their music any time soon - although it does lend itself well to the understanding of music, Ed says.

"I think it's more just the understanding of written music that we find sort of comes into use more. There's a few old baroque influenced pieces that I've taken a few sounds from and tried to make them a bit more modern, which is kind of interesting, but I think the most useful thing is just understanding how a chord progression works."

Despite the 'next big thing' label being bandied about, Xander the Great are trying to avoid the buzz and just focus on their music.

"There's definitely an element of pressure," Ed admits. "But we're having so much fun doing it. To finally have people you've never met before commenting on something that started in a bedroom is quite spectacular, really. At the moment we're just looking forward to seeing how far we can take it."

So what's next for the duo? The plan is to focus on getting their live shows as tight and polished as possible - and of course, there's that elusive first album.

"We're trying to find that really solid and strong single and then we really want to work on our concept EP," Ed says, when asked about what he wants from 2013. "I guess the next step is a few more singles and then a really good album. That's the route we want to take."

A sort of 'watch this space' then?

"Watch this space! Yeah, you could say that."

Listen to 'Bloodhound' below: