Newton Faulkner: 'Hand Built By Robots'

Feted widely for his spectacular talent for the guitar, Newton Faulkner is releasing his debut album at just 22, and that talent is on display all the way through. From the folksy 'Intro', which conjures up something pastoral and English, to the extraordinary 'UFO', Faulkner doesn’t just write songs, he picks and plucks and strums around all of their possibilities. Talent like this could benefit from recording versions of folk standards, but Faulkner (boldly) lays down a cover of Massive Attack’s 'Teardrop' instead. He is carving his own writerly style, jazzing up the idea of acoustic music with lounge-y beats and a twist of funk. This tends to be his downfall, making for a middle of the road sound that can become tiring and insincere. At times the result is even irritating - the fast, rapped lyrics on 'To The Light' are perversely childish and 'Gone In The Morning' seems more concerned with its own momentum than any destination, like a song being written on the spot. There is gentle song writing here, but the talent for playing outstrips the ear for a tune by quite some way. With some of the chaff filtered out though, this over-long album could be an affecting gem - instead it seems like an over-enthusiastic showcase by a guitar player who is yet to find a writing identity.
Released 30th July 2007 by Ugly Truth.

Written by Huw Green.