Once more reinventing himself (and his sound) as a folk
rock/pop troubadour, more akin to the likes of Frank Turner than his former
tenures as lead singer of Busted and Fightstar, Charlie Simpson’s debut Young
Pilgrim sees him out to once more show another side to him and what he can do.
Young Pilgrim is a solid debut offering, as he strums an
acoustic guitar through more folk/Americana rooted pop songs. It’s an enjoyable
listen, but it only really hits its peak on opener Down, Down, Down and the
anthemic Cemetary, which possesses one of the best hooks and choruses the man
has written.
His unique voice makes this a very effective record, Farmer
& His Gun proving to be another highlight in the latter parts of the album,
complete with a nice little Bob Dylan-stlye harmonica playing thrown in for
good measure.
Elsewhere though, whereas some of his previous material
soared, this is just a pleasant, laid back record, which although once more the
man’s raw talent, fails to ignite into overdrive.
It is not an all out hit fest, but depending on what you are
looking for in a record, this could well be up your street, Simpson showing
another side to his persona, and showcasing a fine vocal performance throughout.
It is the lack of killer hits across the board that makes
this pleasant if unspectacular. It needs more choruses and hooks to really
transcend it above what it is; he may not light the world up with this project,
but while he writes such effective and listenable chilled out jams, people will
listen. You can’t fault the songcraft or his performance, but for me, it fails
to hit the heights of what the man is capable of.
Whether he returns to the Fightstar fold or not remains to
be seen, but either way, he could well go on to carve out a nice little niche
in the singer songwriter market with records as listenable as this; it just
lacks that killer something to make it truly great. It’s worth checking out
though for the highlights alone.
6/10
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