Review Summary: Can one dreadlocked hippy create a whole new world with just a voice, a guitar and an imagination? Not yet...but it's a damn good try.
He is easily distinguished by his dreadlocks and guitar work…but he’s not John Butler. He does a mean Massive Attack cover…but he’s not Jose Gonzalez. He’s a polite British singer-songwriter…but he’s not James Blunt (thank God, you must be thinking). 23-year-old Newton Faulkner is very much his own man. All the proof you need of this is present on this, his debut album.
Hand Built By Robots is a joyous musical adventure, scattered with varying degrees of euphoria, ambition, optimism, desperation and loneliness. Regardless of the mood of the seventeen songs, there is a consistent warmth and an omnipresent beauty to what Faulkner is doing, plucking heartstrings with as much skill and precision as the plucking of his guitar strings.
The first thing you will notice upon listening is how much Faulkner reflects upon the ambiguous title through the music. The hand- usually associated with a gentle touch, a grip of embrace, a loving gesture. Robots- ways of the future, the notion of a whole new world, a Western fantasy that is becoming more and more of a reality as the human race progresses into a completely digital age.
Hand Built by Robots? The same gentle touch one would experience from your regular modern acoustic troubadour, but set in a Flaming Lips-style future, where all is bright and life is good. The thickly-layered production, provided by Mike Spencer (Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai) and relative newcomer Andy McKim, presents Faulkner himself front and centre of proceedings. His voice is breezy, versatile and stylish, often creating gorgeous three-part harmonies with himself. He can go from a Gary Lightbody-styled low-key whisper (“Dream Catch Me”, “UFO”) to a higher-ranged, soul-infused yawp (“She’s Got The Time” and the endearing “People Should Smile More”. Accompanying his voice is an adventurous,
Graceland-meets-
Pink Moon style of guitar playing. Below this, however, one will almost always discover a world of factory-like percussion, wafting flourishes of organ, synth and both acoustic and electric drum patterns. There is a lot more to
Hand Built than meets the eye, making it very much the headphones record.
The breakaway hit single from the record, “Dream Catch Me”, is one of the surprise success stories of the year. How it happened is anyone’s guess, though the song is certainly an album highlight. Over a chirpy chord progression and a consistent backbeat, Faulkner muses on his escape from daily life through daydreaming, and how this is interrupted by the person he loves. His vocals are prime example of his flexibility as a singer- soulful, yet somehow still awkward and pensive. As the song fades out, a familiar lyric graces the air. “Love, love is a verb. Love is a doing word”. Massive Attack’s 1998 classic, “Teardrop”, has been given another reinterpretation. Whilst the original featured a distant, inhuman approach to its minimalist backbone, Faulkner illustrates the song with an Eastern flavour, live drums and quite possibly the best harmonies on the album. The original is not topped- this is a task no other performer of this song will ever do. Regardless, it is an exceptional cover that is certainly worth your time, particularly if you were a fan of the original.
Other shining moments are planted through the seventeen tracks, including the awe-inspired wake-up call of “To The Light”, the silly singalong fun of “Gone in the Morning” and the stark contrast to this, the low-key introspect of “Straight Towards the Sun”. The song has a Thom Yorke-like bleakness, with Faulkner sounding tired and worn out in a manner that reflects the song’s ideals of hopelessness and frustration with his personal world. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”, he sighs, before adding: “Seems all the world has gone insane”. It is a startling departure, and the contrast works masterfully amongst the other tracks.
Naturally, all is not perfect in
Hand Built- with seventeen tracks, three or four of which could be deemed filler, there is a length aspect that may shun some listeners. The lyrics, too, tip occasionally over the line from quirky to plain stupid: “Gone in the Morning” sees Faulkner boast “I’m gonna master all kinds of kung-fu/I’m gonna live inside a tiny zoo”; whilst “To The Light” features the ridiculous simile of “I feel like a Muppet with a drunken puppeteer”. In the long run, minor flaws like this are ultimately easy to overlook- debut albums are rarely, if at all, a perfect work of art. For someone whose only other real musical experience was in a Green Day covers band, especially, the album is a hugely impressive feat.
Newton Faulkner’s world is one of mystery, harmony, exploration and heart. It is a retreat from your everyday, placing you in the midst of a beautiful, almost egalitarian place. At times it may seem asinine, or even a little samey. For the most part, however,
Hand Made by Robots is brilliant.
