Surf sensation of last summer NEWTON FAULKNER follows up his March 2006 debut ‘Full Fat’ EP with another collection of songs in his unique, powerful & intricate acoustic style of songwriting.
His guitar doubles as a knock/bang mode of percussion as well as being the source of the complex arpeggios he plucks so soulfully, and the reverb hazes out the super-effective results beautifully.
Vocal streams of consciousness loop in and out of that vibrant guitar technique, hammered home in sweeping surges with a gravelly kick that’s completely at odds with his rather refined speaking voice, and shatters the melodically fragile along with a twanging resonance from the gui-tarr. This creates a twisted introspection that swirls each song around and around in a dizzying helter-skelter of crashing thought.
‘Feels Like Home’ is a painful break-up. The survival from the mess is so liberating that you feel the pain at each turn. You are watching the merry-go-round and see the scene develop as the song revolves. It’s a crazy perspective, and a theme that spins in time with the disc as the dramas unfold.
The two live tracks are stunning, as must be the lad’s live form! ‘To The Light’ is whipped up in a storm of harmonics, to whoops and cheers. Lyrical dexterity works out the creatitvity in this, then takes time out to let the song pour forth. Gospel images recline suddenly as divinity rages out of his soul, another revolution taking place.
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‘Full Fat’, from the sold-out EP of the same name, filters in an impossible lyrical scheme of unconsciousness, where caffeine-free dreams of Avril Lavigne run indoors in an agoraphobic pique; the earthy tones vibrating as the string-bending, strumming hidden boost of soul suddenly takes posession of the song’s soul. Compulsive listening it is, and the tension in this live rendition is electric.
Where the setting sun meets the Blues, this wave-generated soundtrack to the summer bristles with originality both in terms of Faulkner’s gravity-defying guitar style and his image-warping, cyclic voal delivery. Undeniable talent drips from every track of this release, and this reviewer urges you to give it a listen immediately!
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