Write It On Your Skin
Album: Write It on Your Skin
Label: Sony Music
Rating: 4/5
Newton Faulkner took the charts by storm back in 2007 with the release of Hand Built by Robots, a debut album containing the smash hit ‘Dream Catch Me’ and a summery collection of guitar pop. The follow up, Rebuilt By Humans didn’t quite create the same zeitgeist, but confirmed that Faulkner’s oh-so cheery debut was not a fluke.
After three years away, Faulkner’s back with Write It On Your Skin, hoping that it’ll but him and his trademark dreadlocks back to the forefront.
From the start, Write It On Your Skin is incredibly cheery, with opening tracks Pulling Teeth and Soon setting a constructive, happy-to-please precedent. From there on in Faulkner again shuns all thoughts of sadness and encourages everyone to share his ‘half full’ philosophy, no matter what the situation.
If anything, the uninterrupted positivity gets slightly annoying after a while. In The Morning’s more sombre tone comes as welcome relief, a single dour moment making the joyous earlier tracks the more impactful.
Thankfully, there’s a little more variation in the instrumentation, even if it is slight. Brick by Brick shows the clearest influence of Faulkner’s MC sibling’s input. The occasional oddity, like In The Mornings theremin use comes as a lovely change from the mainstay acoustic guitar use.
None of this is to say that Faulkner’s happy streak is not hugely endearing, the album as a whole feeling like the perfect accompaniment to a sunny day in the park.
The sun’s always out in Newton Faulkner’s garden, that’s for sure. So, if you just need some cheering up, or want to happily jig along with him, Faulkner’s latest is sweet enough to satisfy even the deepest sugar cravings.
Newton Faulkner – Write It On Your Skin is out now.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Newton Faulkner