Newton Faulkner - Rebuilt By Humans

As well as being a clever title to follow-up to his debut, Hand Built By Robots, the name of Newton Faulkner’s new record also references the fact that, at the back end of last year, he had to undergo surgery on a career-threatening shattered wrist. Clearly all better now, Faulkner once again shows off his incredibly impressive guitar skills with a new collection of intelligently-crafted, funk-tinged acoustic songs.

There are some big tunes here that rival the one he’s best known for, Dream Catch Me, from his first album. Both If This Is It and Won’t Let Go manage to be radio-friendly while still having real heart and substance to them. When Faulkner’s voice soars in the choruses, it is simply magnificent and genuinely rousing. Sometimes things may be pushed a bit too far. Over and Out is just a little too slick for its own good, with its commercial radio power-ballad chorus trying unsuccessfully to push the emotion levels up to 11. Fortunately there are some lovely low-key moments to balance this out. I’m Not Giving Up Yet is a pretty way to end the record, with just a stripped down vocal and acoustic guitar.

Okay, so the interludes that are scattered throughout are a little superfluous, but there is much less noodling than on his debut. Maybe that makes Rebuilt By Humans a little smoother around the edges than his last outing, but it also makes it a far more coherent record. Most importantly of all, there is a lot more killer than filler this time round.