ON November 16, the latest "great white hope" to put Plymouth on the national music map, Cosmo Jarvis, will unleash his superb debut album Humasyouhitch Sonofabitch on the Wall Of Sound label.

On it, the multi-talented, 20-year-old singer/songwriter, who has recently returned to live in the city, not only writes his own songs but plays nearly all the instruments, records and produces most of the material himself; he also makes the accompanying videos.

This has been his preferred method of work for several years and his bedroom studio, which was where the majority of this album was recorded, features on the cover of the album, amid the artistic scrawl of his brother's expressive drawings.

"I'm very anal when it comes to keeping control of my music," says Cosmo who actually had a go at recording with a top producer when he first signed to Wall Of Sound, but gave up in favour of his own bedroom set up.

"I play most of the instruments myself, though I'm not very good at cello, so I got someone in for that, and my brother helped out with drums quite a bit.

"I did the vocal harmonies and recorded it on my £9.99 microphone and basic equipment at home."

The finished DIY effect sits perfectly with Cosmo's articulate heart-on-sleeve outpourings which often run as a stream of consciousness in the vein of Mike Skinner or Eminem, whether he's musing about a girl or ranting about darker subject matter.

"Pop-rapper empties mental waste paper bin," said Q magazine of his efforts, giving it three out of five stars, while the Daily Mail awarded him five out of five, Mojo four out of five, though predictably NME, who initially raved about him, have decided they're not so keen now, only awarding a measly one out of ten.

The album comes in two very distinct moods on two separate discs but: "I'm not allowed to call it a double album," says Cosmo.

"The first, Humasyouhitch, is quite poppy and includes a lot of my earlier material which was mainly about girls."

Incredibly infectious tunes accompany ditties like Jessica Alba's Number in which Cosmo fantasises about cavorting with A list female celebrities, or the more down to earth Mel's song about "the prettiest girl in Brixham" which bears the immortal lines: "I'm sorry if you think that one pound fifty was wasted; those were the best damn chips I ever tasted."

Some of the tunes on the Sonofabitch disc also sound fun and up vibe – including country romp Clean My Room, which starts happily enough lyrically but ends with psychopathic thoughts, the poppy Sort Yourself Out, or the reggae-fuelled Sunshine and Dandelions, which superficially sounds jolly enough, but touches on abortion and hides darker emotions.

"Quite a few of the messages are hidden in the music," says Cosmo, "so you can enjoy the melodies but if you dig deeper you can find all sorts of other stuff. The vocals are deliberately down in the mix, but I think people appreciate them more when they have to work hard to hear what songs are about."

Other tracks are obviously far more angry, like He Only Goes Out On Tuesdays, a seriously creepy track about child abuse, and Mummy's Been Drinking, a real Eminem-style rant.

"Fifty per cent of the subject matter is written from my own experience and fifty per cent is not," says Cosmo, "but it's not always obvious which is which!

"For a while I was living under the same roof as the people I was writing about so I had to change some names!

"One of the reasons I dropped out of school was so that I could work at home when nobody else was in the house."

One track that Cosmo admits does relate directly to his own family is Problems, which is also one of the most angry and emotive songs on the album and will be the second single release (the first was She's Got You), though it will need to be slightly amended for radio play.

"It's about the consequences of divorce, partly about what happened in my family. I thought it was only my experience but then talking to quite a few of my friends I found it was the same for them too…"

The album, which is available to pre order from Cosmo's MySpace now, comes with a Parental Advisory warning.

Almost uncomfortably honest and incredibly down to earth, it is not only hugely entertaining musically and lyrically, it paints a very real picture of life in Noughties Britain as seen through teenage eyes.

Cosmo will be embarking on his first national headlining UK tour this week to support the album.

He will be back in the city on November 21, when he plays Plymouth University Students' Union and will play the Hippo on New Year's Eve.

You can find out more by visiting www.myspace.com/cosmojarvis