(Sony)

Dreadlocked Lennox Heads type cruelly trapped in the body of a young man from Surrey

Colleagues at my last job (one of whom was Brisbane’s Most Trusted Singles Reviewer™ Simon Topper) will testify that Newton Faulkner’s 2008 hit Dream Catch Me was hair-pullingly overplayed on the office radio – it almost literally drove us mad. Depending on our collective mood, the song’s presence would inspire either shouts of “Oh fuck, not again” or (most likely on Friday afternoons) a mass falsetto sing-along to the “That’s where I’m going” bit. That naggingly catchy hit helped its accompanying album Hand Built By Robots sell like crazy. Not about to fuck with the formula, Mike Love would be proud of the work ethic that has resulted in Faulkner’s follow-up, Rebuilt By Humans (even the record’s title is a continuation of its predecessor’s theme). The album is custom-made for those youths too chilled and sensible to mosh along to your Fall Out Boys or Wolfmothers. In fact, your mum will probably love it, too. Lead-off single If This Is It is a Sting-meets-U2 chest-beater, while Lipstick Jungle blends Butler-lite finger-pickin’, nicely arranged horns and a chorus to make FM programmers wet. Immaculately produced sincerity is the key here, the songs as approachable as puppy dogs. A few nimble-fingered acoustic interludes meld with more electronic flourishes, such as the orchestral synth MOR of Over And Out. But for the most part, it’s Newton, his soaring melodic voice, his acoustic guitar and a big, multi-studio production that marks Rebuilt By Humans. If you like music that’s even slightly more leftfield than Daryl Braithwaite, you’d probably want to give this one a miss.

**

MATT THROWER

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