They’ve been slowly and steadily writing songs, playing gigs and building up their fanbase for the past three years, and now Watford four-piece Chasing Grace have finally released their debut album, Nowhere Near Old Enough, which came out this week.

“It’s been a long time coming,“ says acoustic guitarist and vocalist Phil Plested. “We’ve been working on the songs literally from the first week we got together, so it’s almost a relief to get it out! But, more than anything, it’s good to let people finally listen to it. We’re really excited. We’re really proud of it.“

The album features three singles that Phil and the band (Grace Ackerman on vocals, Phil Leigh on guitars, and Matt Holmes on drums, all former Rickmansworth School pupils) have already released – Free, Run and Tonight – which Phil describes as more radio-friendly, but it’s the rest of the tracks that they are really keen for their fans to hear.

“They’re more emotional and personal,“ Phil, 22, explains. “The album is called Nowhere Near Old Enough and the songs all sort of follow the theme of us growing up so fast because of doing this, and growing up in the world today.“

Phil and Grace, 19, were discovered by another Watfordian, the best-selling musician, DJ and record producer Naughty Boy, aka Shahid Khan, back in 2012 when they were still at Rickmansworth School.

He saw them perform in a school show and got them to sing again for him in the car park afterwards.

“We sounded awful!“ Phil laughs – but he had them appearing on his album Hotel Cabana. He has been mentoring them ever since and produced a number of the tracks on Nowhere Near Old Enough, which is released through his Naughty Boy Recordings, part of Universal Island Records.

“He really likes the album,“ says Phil. “We were up at his studio the other day playing it and he was loving it.

“He cooked us this really spicy meal and we were sitting there eating and listening to the album, it was a really nice family atmosphere. He’s like our step-dad and we’re like his kids, and we’re all from Watford, so it’s really nice.“

Naughty Boy has introduced the band to many of his famous friends, not least Emeli Sandé, who they supported at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, which they describe as an incredible experience, and they’ve been rubbing shoulders with the likes of rock band Bastille in the recording studio.

It looks like 2015 could be the year that Chasing Grace go stratospheric, but their feet are still firmly planted on the ground – they all still live in Watford, all five minutes away from each other, and still like to play The Horns in Watford town centre.

“We were there on Boxing Day,“ says Phil, “and we weren’t expecting anyone to come, but it was full. The local support we get is amazing. And we’ll be doing another gig there in February, for the launch of the album, so come along and see us!“

  • Nowhere Near Old Enough is available now from iTunes. Chasing Grace play The Horns, Hempstead Road, Watford on Wednesday, February 25. Details: chasinggrace.co.uk