 
Newton Faulkner is due to release his fourth studio
album ‘Studio Zoo’ on the 26th August
and he made the whole recording process special
for both himself and his fans as from the 11th
June Faulkner set up his home studio with 4 cameras
to record his every movement for 5 weeks 24/7
in a sort of special Big Brother meets the Truman
Show kind of experience where his fans also had
the opportunity to interact with Faulkner and
influence decisions on the album.
‘Studio Zoo’ is easily the biggest
album that Faulkner has ever worked on just for
the fact that he allowed the world to watch his
every move solidly for 5 weeks and the fact that
he wrote, preformed, produced and recorded the
album all from scratch by himself in his home
studio which is not a first for Faulkner as this
is a formula that he is well use to now he is
4 albums in but it is the first time he has done
it in a Big Brother style experience.
After listening to ‘Studio Zoo’ a
few times over I can confirm that Faulkner still
is a solo singer songwriter genius and has now
got another solid album to his name, the album
features 13 tracks and runs for just under 50minutes,
the majority of the album is a lot more laid back
and dreamy from his previous albums but there
are still a few upbeat gems that are bound to
find themselves gracing the airwaves of the radio
when they are released as singles in the near
future.
The album opens with ‘Where To Start’
which kicks off with really beautiful sounding
guitar riffs where Faulkner really shows off his
folk routes, vocally the song is very dreamy sounding
as Faulkner croons his way through the song whilst
really showing off his guitar skills as he technically
picks his way through the 3minute track.
‘Treading Water’ is an extremely relaxed
song where the instrumental work is minimal with
Faulkner pretty much softly singing over a repetitive
drum beat, it is the kind of song best experienced
in a chilled out environment such as being in
a coffee shop catching up with a friend or generally
on a lazy Sunday afternoon where all you want
to do is lay down and think about the world.
With ‘Plastic Hearts’ Faulkner really
shows off his skills as he gets all technical
with his guitar as let’s face it despite
being the master of chilled out music Faulkner
is also the master of showing off when it comes
to strumming his guitar as he is forever getting
all technical but it is something he does with
ease, vocally the song is quite repetitive and
extremely chilled out.
‘Indecisive’ is a beautiful sounding
song and a lot different sounding from the material
found on Faulkner’s previous albums and
for this reason alone I can really see this being
released as a single in the near future as Faulkner
really goes for it with his vocals in a way where
it seems he is so into what he is doing that he
nearly forgets to come up for air.
The first single to be taken from the album is
the upbeat ‘Losing Ground’ it features
all the elements of classic Faulkner material
and is generally such a joy to listen to as the
song has pop elements but still keeps true to
the raw laid back style that Faulkner has mastered
over the years.
The likes of ‘At The Seams’, ‘
Innocent’, ‘Waiting On You’
and album closer ‘Orange Skies’ all
have the potential to be future singles and all
for different reason as not one of the four songs
sound remotely similar, yet the group sounding
vocals of “ooooooh” perfectly close
the album in ‘Orange Skies’.
It’s crazy to think that only 13 months
ago Newton Faulkner released his third studio
album ‘Write It On Your Skin’ and
here he is after touring that album solidly ready
to release his fourth studio album ‘Studio
Zoo’ which proves that Faulkner is not only
one of the most talented male solo songwriters
but is also one of the most hard working artists
in the UK at the moment.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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