By Harry Ballmann
The quirky ginger dreadlocked guitarist, Newton Faulkner is best known for two things other than his flamboyant style and personality.
Firstly, his intricate acoustic guitar playing sets him apart from the rest of the genre. Secondly, he has an aptitude to create interesting and different cover songs, though very few take place in his albums. His debut album (Hand Built by Robots) covers Massive Attack’s Teardrop in a way, but Newton seamlessly creates a take on the song which emphasises what a song it is. There is a parallel between his first album and his latest, Human Love, and that is in the pure quality of the albums. On Human Love, he covers Major Lazer’s Get Free. Again, Newton’s take on the song only emphasises his quality of musicianship, highlighting that without a doubt, it is his best work since Hand Built by Robots.
There is an evident contradiction between the music and the lyrics, and that is a theme through all his albums, but most notably Human Love. Whilst the music is generally upbeat and happy, the lyrics are subdued and somewhat poignant. This is not to say it isn’t effective, because Passing Planes and the title track Human Love epitomises Newton Faulkner’s quirky tones, but seemingly thoughtful lyrics.
