Having parted company with the major label that helped him achieve two No 1 albums, Newton Faulkner’s undergone a radical post-split haircut.
The singer chopped off his trademark long, ginger dreadlocks in the video to Get Free, a stirring cover of Major Lazer’s dreamy dancehall tune. It’s a bold statement of intent for a polished fifth album that doesn’t quite deliver.
Faulkner emerged as a rootsy songwriter who was as likely to slap his guitar as strum it, and that energy is intact on the clattering Up Up and Away, the blues-pop of Stay and Take and the world music rhythms of Far to Fall.
He adds an electronic sheen to his stomping sound on Shadow Boxing, but the fusion doesn’t take on the blandly forgettable Passing Planes and Step in the Right Direction.
Nice haircut, though.
(BMG)
