The X-factor that determines which singer-songwriters strike platinum and which languish to strum sadly in bedsitland is indeed mysterious.
Whatever the magic potion contains, judging by the acclaim steeped on his young shoulders, Newton Faulkner has it. Helped in no small part by a record deal with Ugly Truth (a new subsidiary of SonyBMG) his debut album 'Hand Built By Robots' reached number one in 2007.
With what his website bio describe as his "wistful smile and phenomenal dreadlocks" together with an "astonishing virtuoso guitar technique" he has made waves and won hearts at Summer festivals including Glastonbury, V and the Cambridge Folk Festival.
So his new single from his best selling album should give a further evidence of what the fuss is all about. And yet what you get is the same kind of bland air-brushed folk-blues that have been churned out ad nauseum by the likes of Messrs Blunt, Johnson and Morrison.
|
On top of this there's a set of meaningless lyrics in which he can't decide whether he feels pissed off or chilled out. He claims to be "sick and tired of getting nowhere" but at the same time asserts a laissez faire "I don't mind anymore" philosophy.
It's the kind of predictable product which makes me understand what prompted James Higgerson’s venomous hatchet job on Faulkner's previous cover of Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' (reviewed elsewhere on Whisperin & Hollerin’).
It also adds weight to the notion that the magic Factor X formula depends more on having the right image and style than on real musical merit or emotional depth.
|
