Few British artists have met with the level of hype that Charlie Winston has in recent weeks. Winston is the brother of one of Britain’s best singer/songwriters Tom Baxter, but couldn’t be more different and especially in the way he moves from one genre to another on this album. Here you’ll find reggae, pop, soul, jazz, and more. Already a major selling artist in his country of domicile, France, the big question is whether he’ll make it big over here in the UK…

‘In Your Hands’ is the first single off the album (released August 10th) and kicks the album off in lively style. It mixes reggae and soul to create a song where the vibe is light but the message is really quite serious. While Winston gives a wonderful vocal performance I wonder whether the song, which is unusual to say the least, works. I’m just not sure. Next song ‘Like A Hobo’ adopts the Mariachi style as it bounds along with epic orchestration. ‘Kick The Bucket’ is out-and-out pop with a jaunty, super-light vibe as he sings “We all kick the bucket in the end…”

Yes, I’m confused. ‘I Love Your Style’ is a lovely pop/jazz love ballad underpinned by simple piano notes and a strong melody. Winston gives an easy but expressive vocal performance that matches the song’s vibe perfectly. ‘My Life As A Duck’ is something of a joke while ‘Boxes’ takes on a more serious vibe with piano taking another leading role in one of the album’s standout tracks. ‘Calling Me’ is a stripped-down song where Winston is accompanied by simple acoustic guitar as his voice travels the scale in another beautiful and thoughtful song.

‘Tongue Tied’ features Hammond as it meanders along with Winston singing in English and French. It’s an unusual song with a strong blues vibe, another strong melody and a voal that croons, whispers and soars at various points in the song’s passage. I really like this one… Next up is a live rendition of blues/jazz rendition of the classic ‘I’m A Man’ - a superb cover with vocals that perform the most complex cartwheels. ‘Soundtrack To Falling In Love’ is a quiet, charming, and contemplative acoustic number that works. ‘Generation Gap’ is another standout track with its huge, relentless rhythmic backdrop, and rampant pace. Unusual and great.

‘Every Step’ reverts to quiet contemplation backed by a lovely, easy acoustic guitar, piano notes and another distinctive vocal performance. Winston leaves the best to last with the stunning ‘My Name.’  It’s an epic song with wonderful orchestration, great lyrics and just about the strongest melody here. It’s an exceptional song and one of the best I’ve heard in 2009.

Now I like a bit of musical and sonic diversity but an excess in a single album can confuse. There are exceptionally great moments here but I sense that Winston is trying too hard to showcase the extent of what he can do. So along with moments of rapture come moments of confusion when one wonders who the artist is and where’s he’s heading. That said, there’s several very good songs here and enough to justify recommending that you acquire this very unusual album.

3.8/5

About Charlie Winston

Charlie Winston grew up, with his folk-musician/hotelier parents and his musical siblings, in a Suffolk hotel through which passed an endless procession of itinerant artists, orchestras, actors and thespians. Such an environment had a great impact on Charlie giving him a deep love for the performing arts and nurturing his musical talents. At the age of eight he learned to play the drums, before turning his hand to the piano when he was ten (Great Balls Of Fire was the first song he played) and two years later writing his first songs. Aged seventeen Charlie relocated to London, studied music at Brunel (”I later realised that I got too caught up in the ‘technicalities’ of music, I had become engrossed in the world of Jazz and Minimalism”), subsequently leaving college penniless and piano-less. Living in “a shitty apartment in Clapham” with his brother (Tom Baxter) the only instrument he played was a beaten up bass found “just lying around”. So with Charlie now playing bass they formed the band ‘Baxter’, a period that lasted three years and that Charlie regards as his degree course - An Introduction To The Real World Of Music. Charlie’s musical development continued - writing music for theatre productions (The Almeida, Sadler’s Wells, The Gate, The Unicorn and others) and writing and playing music for short films, dance productions, TV adverts as well as producing and recording records with various artists. “This was a fantastic training ground for me. I learned to write to a brief with a deadline. This became an invaluable discipline, and a very important part of my ‘process’. A little pressure can produce a lot.” Singing or playing with many different bands on either bass, piano or percussion, Charlie wrote and arranged music for brass and strings including the London Symphonietta and the BBC Concert Orchestra and came to the fore of the stage as lead singer in an eight piece reggae band “it brought out my strength as a front man”.

In his early twenties he picked up the guitar for the first time “it helped me focus on the beauty and simplicity of songwriting and storytelling once again - the precise things that had drawn me into writing in the first place when I was in my teens.” In 2003, when Charlie was recording bass for his brother Tom’s album at Real World Studios, he was introduced to Peter Gabriel and became friends with Peter’s daughter Mel. ” Although I had a new EP that I was anxious to give him, I decided to wait until he knew me as a person first, before introducing him to my music. It turned out to be the right choice.”

A year later, when he was babysitting for Peter’s son, Charlie finally gave him his EP - in return Peter gave him a recording contract, produced his first album ‘Make Way’ and invited Charlie to open for him on his European tour. A Volkswagen television advert, in which Charlie was the voice of a dog who unleashed a mightily impressive rendition of the classic Spencer Davis Group song ‘I’m a Man’, became a global smash and is also now a YouTube classic. Charlie’s story then moved to France where he had come to the attention of record label Atmosphériques who introduced him to Mark Plati (David Bowie, The Cure, Louise Attaque) with whom Charlie recorded his second album ‘Hobo’. The “Hobo” sessions took place primarily in Paris, at the Pigalle Studios, with brass and strings added in London and the finishing touches added at Plati’s New York studio. The core of the record sees Charlie on guitar, piano, and “vintage” keys (Wurlitzer-Celest-Hammond), Ben Edwards on his harmonicas, Daniel Marsala on the bass and Medi on the drums. Featured in all the main French press, Charlie has performed on the influential TV show Taratata an unprecedented three times and on Le Grand Journal in both Paris and at the show’s Cannes Film Festival opener. He is currently on an extensive sold out headline tour of France and has been invited to play at all the major summer festivals in France Belgium and Switzerland.