The Artful Escape review – Bowie meets Hitchhiker's in gratifying teenage space opera

Seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy Francis Vendetti lives with his mother in a small Colorado town that is still in thrall to its most famous export: Francis's late uncle, a platinum-selling folk singer. Francis feels inevitable pressure to continue the family trade, and, in preparation for his highly anticipated first public performance in town, writes a suite of Dylan-esque tracks about toil and loss. Except the act is an affectation: Francis is, at heart and by temperament, a prog-rock wailer who dreams of playing high-gain, euphoric guitar solos over the swell of a supportive orchestra. When he's visited by a sympathetic alien being who observes: "You wear folk like a cheap suit", Francis swaps his skinny Levi's for an LED-encrusted catsuit and sets off across the Milky Way to shred for an audience of intergalactic concertgoers. This is true space opera territory – Ziggy-era Bowie meets The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – and far from typical video game subject matter.