Dream Catch Me When I Fall (Hand Built By Robots - Newton Faulkner)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Hand Built By Robots - Newton Faulkner
Date:	05/04/08 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A nice relaxed, chilled out album for all occasions

Disadvantages: -

Over the last few years I have found my musical tastes developing ever so slightly over time and it was my introduction to Elliott Smith that started leading me towards more chilled out artists. So by last summer when Newton Faulkner announced his arrival on the British music scene with the release of "I Need Something", I could tell he was another artist I was going to like. I'd been listening to Jack Johnson quite a bit for the last couple of years and finally a British artist seemed to be able to rival him in making chilled out, relaxing music.

Then towards the end of July last year Newton released this, his debut album, Hand Built By Robots at the incredibly young age of 22. It was an incredible album for someone so young and when it debuted in the album charts at number 3 it was clear that Newton was going to be something pretty special. With influences that range from Jurassic 5, Massive Attack and Joni Mitchell to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains he draws his influences from a huge spectrum of bands and while his own sound is very relaxed the sound has a very varied mixture of sounds.

It is musically and vocally a very mature album for someone so young. He did have a co writer on a couple of tracks but by and large this impressive collection of 16 new songs and 1 cover is certainly an impressive achievement. The album itself does have a nice mixture of pace and Newton seems to blend the slower, more relaxed tunes in nicely with the faster paced, more up tempo numbers. By and large his sound is ideally suited to the Summer season and the slow, gentler numbers and more upbeat tracks will certainly play a large part in my summer.

The albums tempo is by and large dictated by Newton's guitar and all the tracks are built around this. The slower tempo tends to involve a piano but this is a very guitar driven track and even on the faster paced numbers he hasn't employed a huge drum kit to supply the tempo and pace but manages to create it on the guitar. It's an impressive sound that really seems to blend in well with his vocals and the occasional tracks with the piano loops sound equally as powerful as the faster paced guitar driven songs.

For a lad from Surrey he has a very distinctive sound to his vocals. There is something quite relaxing and soothing in his vocals. He can hit the higher notes but seems to be equally at home with deeper notes. In particular his vocals provide a nice melody in tracks like "People Should Smile More" and " Dream Catch Me". It is perhaps down to Newton's unique appearance and vocal style that has got his music noticed but regardless of what lead to his discovery it was certainly a good thing for all concerned and particularly the music buying public.

He is one of those artists that can appeal to a much wider audience than just that which the record company identified. He has a really non offensive sound to his music that will appeal to just about everyone. His vocals may put off a few people but by and large Newton seems to be making nice, catchy pop songs to be enjoyed by the masses. It's fair to say the overall tone of this album is very relaxed and even his cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" is slightly different and opens the track up to more than just Massive Attack's target audience.

Overall this is a very impressive debut album from someone so young. Newton shows a maturity far beyond his young years in this album and I personally could have sworn he seemed to be at least 5 years older than he actually is. It's an album I've found myself listening to on a regular basis; it does have a certain uplifting feel to it that helps to raise your mood. It really is a Summery feeling album and I can see me playing it to death this summer. As for a target audience it is fair to say that if you've enjoyed Newton's singles then buying the album isn't a gamble as every track on the album is as good as the single you'll have heard and enjoyed. My final word on this album has to simply be, Buy it.

Amazon: £6.98
Amazon Marketplace: £5.73

Summary: An excellent Debut album from Newton Faulkner