Album Review

Newton Faulkner – Rebuilt By Humans

• 27th Sep 2009

Having earned a middling-to-positive critical reception, and less ambiguously positive double-platinum sales figures with 2007’s Hand Built by Robots, there must have been no small amount of pressure on Newton Faulkner to repeat the trick with this sophomore effort. But the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter is showing few signs of second-album fatigue here.

The songs on Rebuilt by Humans fall into two categories: emotionally wrenching ballads and quirky little ditties. ‘Badman’, which ushers in the album proper, falls safely into the latter, and with its peppy acoustic riff and infectious melodies that stick to the musical pallet like peanut butter, may charm and annoy listeners in equal measure.

But it’s the ballads that make up the majority of the generous 18 tracks, which is mostly a good thing, as Faulkner is more than adept at penning a nice one. Rousing choruses abound, endowed with convincingly delivered – Faulkner’s big, versatile vocal range is a major asset – lyrics about love, heartbreak et cetera.

It’s unfortunate, but maybe inevitable, that there are some fatally overproduced tracks on this record. Take ‘Won’t let go’, for example; drowning out the singer’s brilliantly inventive guitar playing in favour of glossy synth lines, it pays lip service to the big, dumb indie pop anthem ala Athlete when it’s really not necessary and just sounds out of place next to more organic offerings.

That aside, this is a very enjoyable album and, on quality of songwriting alone, can only be described as a successful second outing for the songwriter.