Newton Faulkner - 'Dream Catch Me'
I feel cheated. I've been keeping an eye on this fella for a while now. He's one of an entire school of acousti-songwriters who've been washed up on the shore in the wake of Jack Johnson's surfer-dude tsunami. There's him, Jack, Donavon Frankenreiter, G-Love, Timmy Big-Board, Beardy Strumfella, Laid Back Snoozy Thompson, Float Waverider and (my personal favourite) the Pet Shop Boys.
Only joking. Laid Back Snoozy Thompson's real name is actually Really Laid Back Snoozy Thompson...
So, my expectations of Newton were entirely based on a) his ker-AY-zee name b) his hair, which resembles a ginger jellyfish plopped onto his head and c) he does a cover version of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song, in a proper pirate accent and everything. Look, here it is...
Imagine my TOTAL SHOCK then, when I heard his actual music, in particular this song. Take a listen and join me on the other side, why doncha?
Far from being a challenging mixture of sea-shanty, dub reggae, exquisite fret-work and laid-back summer whimsy, we've got a slighty moody mix of Snow Patrol and the Calling, given a proper 'modern' production sheen and shorn of all fun and personality.
Go back and look at the Spongebob clip again. Is this a man who is short of personality? Is this a man who does not know how to have fun? Is this a man with a sensible haircut? No. So why is his song taken from the 'Big Book Of Anthemic Songs Which American TV Shows Will Use Just Before The Final Credits'? Why isn't his recorded music more like the stuff he does at gigs? And WHY, OH WHY doesn't he sing like Long John Silver all the time?
Seriously, he's a surf dude. That. Would. RULE.
Still, we mustn't be too hard on the man. As the T-shirt says, "To Err Is Human. To ARR! Is Pirate"
Download: Out now
CD Released: July 23rd
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
What a terrible review.
Why not spend less time reviewing your own pre-conceptions of the man and instead review the song! Frankly as a review of a debut single "Snow Patrol" and "The Calling" references aren't enough!!!
Talk about the bloody song, Sir!
[Well I would, but that's going to necessitate listening to it again, and frankly, that's NOT going to happen. - Fraser]
Well done, Ed Bell, I heartily concur! Given that Newton's single went to 7 and his album is now no.1, I do think Fraser M is rather out on a limb. You'd think that someone writing reviews would have just a bit of a grasp of the music industry - how much radio play would Newton have got if he'd released Sponge Bob as his first single? Dream Catch Me is obviously the 'radio friendly' end of Newton's tracks, but you need to listen to the album - its not no. 1 for nothing!
[I've heard the album. It's over-produced. And I don't like it. And you're kind of agreeing with me by saying they released the 'radio-friendly' song, rather than something, yknow, REPRESENTITIVE (which, despite being total novelty, Spongebob actually is). I do understand how the music business works, it works by taking original, quirky talent and ironing the fun out. You can't actually use chart positions to prove anything, by the way. - Fraser]