Folk to the max. Or something.
Artiste: Newton Faulkner
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Hand built by robots
Year: 2007
Label: Ugly Truth
Genre: Folk
Tracks
Intro
To the light
I need something
All I got
Dream catch me
Feels like home
Teardrop
Gone in the morning
Sitar-y thing
Uncomfortably slow
Straight towards the sun
People should smile more
She's got the time
UFO
Face (her)
Ageing superhero
Lullaby
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting Factoid: I used to have a friend called Tony Faulkner, and he too was/is a talented musician. This factoid is of interest to no-one but me, but hey, in ways that's one of the things that drew me to this artiste. Love the title too!
Impression: Not bad, wouldn't have pegged it for a number one album. Interesting certainly, but didn't exactly blow me away.
Best track(s): Dream catch me, Teardrop, Uncomfortably slow, Straight towards the sun
Worst track(s): To be fair, I don't think any track could be properly categorised as bad.
Intention: Dunno. Not totally encouraged to seek out more of his music, but not repelled by it either. Just okay I guess.
Comments: You know, be it folk rock, folk pop, psychedelic folk or just, folk it, pure folk, I realise I don't listen to enough folk. Stop saying folk!! Okay, but really, it's a very neglected genre in my music collection, as is Irish Traditional (trad) music, and I really should do something to try to address that, because unlike some genres I pretty much know I wouldn't like --- punk, jazz, death metal, grindcore and so on --- I've heard some folk music down the years and I've never hated it, never made a mental note not to listen to it on any deep level. But I don't tend to get many folk albums, and know few folk artistes. Of course, some of the artistes I listen to could be characterised as at least partially folk, but not fully.
So this is going to be interesting. I love the album title, also the fact that Newton Faulkner was apparently surprised by how well his debut was received, quickly rising to the number one spot. He comes across as quite honest and down-to-earth, which is I suppose a trait you'll find in this scene --- not too many folk super-egos out there! Well... Anyway, this album sounds like it could be a fun listen, so let's spin it.
After a short acoustic guitar intro the album gets going with a sort of mix of folk and almost funk, very upbeat, particularly
I need something, which utilises some good solid organ melodies, Faulkner's voice and style putting me in mind of a sort of male Tracy Chapman. The songs are all short, averaging about two to three minutes, with one edging towards four but stopping short, and one or two a minute or less. There's a nice, mostly acoustic sound to the songs which fits in pretty well with the folk nature of the music, and occasionally veers off more towards the harder edge of pop/rock, as in
Dream catch me, with some guitar work that reminds me of Irish band The Script.
There are also elements of Damien Rice and Joseph Arthur in Faulkner's style, and a smattering of a more acoustic David Gray perhaps, though he certainly has his own voice and is highly talented, writing or co-writing every track here, bar the cover of Massive Attack's
Teardrop, which he does a good, impassioned, stripped-down version of. A nice change then for
Straight towards the sun, the first piano-centric song, a nice moody ballad, a sort of semi-reggae beat for the uplifting if a little simplistic
People should smile more, and there's a lot of fun in the jaunty
UFO, with some telling lyrics:
”They come in peace/ We stay in war”.
Good album, not a great album. It hasn't made me a fan, but I wouldn't be totally averse to listening to another of Newton Faulkner's efforts some time in the future. Based on this though, he won't be racing to the top of my listening queue, but we may certainly cross paths again some time down the road.