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.

Newton Faulkner at Oxford Art Factory

NEWTON FAULKNER
ERIN MARSHALL
26/08/09

Through a winning smile, Erin Marshall (pictured below) played a selection of acoustic pop songs from her upcoming EP, Things I Can’t Change. Sometimes breezy, sometimes pensive, but always accessible, Marshall’s tunes are the kind you’d hear on the radio and then find yourself humming for the next couple of days. A perfect example of this was Hard Case To Crack, an insanely infectious swing/jazz/pop number which had the crowd clapping along as she bounced around the stage with her acoustic guitar. Boasting oodles of charisma and a note-perfect and seemingly effortless vocal, big things could lie ahead for this singer/songwriter from Sydney.

Dreadlocked Englishman Newton Faulkner (pictured, top) really knows his way around a guitar. Within seconds of stepping on stage, his hands were flying all over the place in a blur of motion, his fingers crawling up the fret-board like spiders on speed. He drummed beats on the guitar’s body and played a specially adapted pedal-board organ with his shoeless feet. It was mesmerising.
 An affable character, he encouraged crowd participation at every possible juncture, played along to a cassette tape and busted out a mini-guitar for She’s Got The Time and the imaginatively titled follow-up She’s Got The Time 2. However, fun as all this was, his more serious songs were actually his best, like the rousing Dream Catch Me and his take on Massive Attack’s Teardrop. The highlight was his final offering: the stripped-down I’m Not Giving Up Yet from his imminent second album, Rebuilt By Humans. This song served to illustrate the only slightly frustrating aspect of the evening. Simply, for someone who can write a beautiful, meaningful ballad like this and who has such a great vocal, he spends a little bit too much time farting around with things like UFO (“better watch out for the anal probe”). While we might only be scratching the surface of his talent, with a few more songs like his set-closer, and less time spent getting the crowd to sing along as if they were pirates with rabies, Faulkner could really be one of the standout songwriters of his generation.

Newton Faulkner - Hand Built By Robots

When English singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner toured Australia a couple of months ago he proved himself to be a likeable, entertaining and funny character. With dreadlocks flowing and an unquestionable ability with a guitar, he punctuated his set of stripped back, acoustic and emotive folk with charming quirkiness and general silliness. It was a lovely mix.

However, while his onstage kookiness was appealing, the highlights on his debut album are exclusively the more ruminative moments. The best of these comes when he puts down the guitar for the touching piano ballad, Straight Towards The Sun; its pretty, understated nature suiting the ever so slightly gravely, Eddie Vedder-esque texture to his vocal. Similarly, Aging Superhero and his cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop are beautiful, while the chorus of Dream Catch Me is rousing enough to explain why the song got such heavy radio play upon its release as a single.

Elsewhere, a plethora of very short tracks make the album feel a touch fragmented and perhaps a handful of its 17 songs could have been left on the studio floor. However, while Hand Built By Robots is a little hit-and-miss, there is potential for greatness here. Faulkner can really, really play the guitar.