If any kind of 'video of the year' award was given purely on sheer adorable quality, then the new animated clip for Charlie Simpson's Farmer & His Gun would be a firm favourite. Especially if you like rabbits.
Created by acclaimed animation director Alice Dupre, the video echoes the classic Watership Down movie, which we absolutely adored as kids (even if bits of it did slightly scare us). Charlie's re-envisionment of the tale nicely incorporates the lyrics themselves into the video as they blow past in a flurry of wind and autumnal leaves. There's something in the quaint simplicity of the video that's utterly captivating and best of all, it has a happy ending!
Really tapping into the sweet, story-book vibe of the song itself, we reckon the video makes for the perfect accompaniment to Charlie's upcoming EP release of the track - also included is a heartfelt cover of Jackson Browne's Barricades of Heaven.
We were super happy when we found out Charlie Simpson was going to release Farmer & His Gun as the next track from his Young Pilgrim album, but what's even better is that it's not just a regular single release, it's going to be a proper EP packed with extra tracks. We reckon the EP cover is brilliant too, tying in nicely to the autumnal shades of the song's folky refrains itself. Available across a number of formats (including a duo of vinyls), the details of the release are as follows:
Digital EP
Farmer & His Gun (Radio Edit)
Farmer & His Gun (Original Demo)
Barricades Of Heaven (Jackson Browne cover)
Lost
7” Vinyl 1 Farmer & His Gun (Radio Edit)
Barricades Of Heaven
7” Vinyl 2
Farmer & His Gun (Original Album Version)
Lost
CD Single
Farmer & His Gun (Radio Edit)
Farmer & His Gun (Original Demo)
The Farmer & His Gun EP is released on the 25th March.
Charlie Simpson's debut solo effort Young Pilgrim was one of the real surprise treats of last year, an album that offered an artist truly hitting their stride, nestling in to a niche of comforting self-assurance and easy confidence.
And of all its songs, Farmer & His Gun always stood out as the lifeblood beating through the heart of the record. Eschewing big singer-songwritery chorus hooks for a more home-spun tale of country-tinged folk, Simpson's rousing calls to 'never lose your pride' form a passionate cornerstone for what the album stands as.
In its quaint, small-scale Britishness, the track paints an idyllic picture of pastoral England; lap steel and harmonica all wrapped up in a beautifully melodic blend. Authenticism is a word much bandied about when it comes to man-and-his-guitar types, but in Farmer & His Gun, Simpson achieves it in its purest form.
With the record's rich acoustic melodies ringing out through the baroque setting of the Eurostar terminal, an impressive crowd gathered round to listen - testament to Charlie's skill as both showman and songwriter.
2012 sees him taking to the road to give the album a proper live airing across twelve dates around the country.
The full list of dates is as follows:
MARCH 2012
21 - Corn Exchange - Ipswich
22 - KOKO - London
24 - Academy 2 - Birmingham
25 - Academy - Liverpool
27 - Academy 2 - Sheffield
28 - University - Newcastle
30 - Liquid Rooms - Edinburgh
31 - Fat Sams - Dundee
APRIL 2012
2 - Pyramids Centre - Portmouth
3 - Solus - Cardiff
5 - Princess Pavillion - Falmouth
6 - The Phoenix - Exeter
A few months back I went to see the lovely Nerina Pallot at The Station Sessions, a beautifully British sort of affair which unfolds pretty much as its title makes out: a session in the station. Of course, when that station happens to be the wondrously baroque St Pancras, it makes everything that little bit more special. I was blown away by Nerina's performance and the overall atmosphere of the place, and it's an atmosphere Charlie Simpson managed to re-create with ease.
I've been a fan of Charlie's debut album Young Pilgrim for a while now, it's full of acoustic, melodious tracks that seem a far better fit for him than his previous material - they bring his voice to the fore and serve to show his talents as a songwriter.
Indeed, with the likes of Ed Sheeran and James Morrison purveying a supermarket brand of singer-songwriting, Charlie's material seems thoroughly more authentic and heartfelt, a quality only emphasised in tonight's performance.
Set up on a stand in the middle of the station concourse, beneath the cavernous arched ceiling, Charlie had commuters stopping in their droves to listen. One breathless girl stood behind me enthused to a friend on the phone 'You'll never guess who I'm just listening to! I can't believe my luck!'. Overhead, two lovers kissed and cuddled as Charlie worked his way through a smattering of tracks from Young Pilgrim.
As an album, Charlie's debut solo effort lends itself incredibly well to intimate live performances like these - the tracks are content to let good, honest quality do the talking rather than flashy studio trickery and seeing them in this setting, they seemed to speak out to every one of the onlookers. Particularly touching was Charlie's dedication of his song Thorns to the sad passing of Apple boss Steve Jobs.
All in all, another resounding success for the Station Sessions and a wonderful showcase of Charlie's solo material.
The set-list was as follows:
Thorns Cemetery Down Down Down Sundown If I Hide Will You Come Looking Parachutes Farmer And His Gun
70,000 downloads in one week - an impressive figure for Charlie Simpson's Cemetery when it received the honour of being chosen as iTunes' single of the week.
As one of the standout tracks from his debut solo album Young Pilgrim, the singer is now giving the track a full release; accompanied by a selection of new material. The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. Cemetery (Radio Edit)
2. Cemetery (Acoustic)
3. Re-Stacks (Bon Iver cover)
4. When We Were Lions (Acoustic Re-mix)
5. (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight (Radio 2 Session)
Two brilliant choices of cover song and an acoustic version, something the rustic, farm-boy feel of Cemetery lends itself to very well.
Next week marks a number of exciting chances to catch Charlie live: ITV2 will be broadcasting footage of his performance at the Digital Music Awards at 10pm on the 3rd October. And if you fancy getting up close and personal, he's playing St Pancras Station at 6.30pm on the 6th.
Charlie Simpson's brilliant debut solo album is out this week, we reviewed it back in June and if you're thinking about checking it out iTunes are currently offering one of the best tracks Cemetery as a free download.
Cemetery, like one of the other standouts from the record, Farmer And His Gun, see Simpson dabbling in a real folky/country influenced sound, soaring up into a big rock chorus.
The real mark of Young Pilgrim as an album is how comfortable and confident it feels. This is clearly the music Simpson enjoys making, it's written over every tweak of guitar and vocal line on tracks like Cemetery.
The music feels natural, organic, a natural extension of himself - truly the real test of any musician's first steps when they 'go solo'.
The album Young Pilgrim is available to download now.
Back with a harder, more gritty sound, Wales' current favourite rockers make it three times lucky with their new album. Following on from the success of last year's Dirt record (which included the amazing Undercover Lover), In Gold Blood is all about the adrenaline, thrills and spills. If you like your rock with the taste of gasoline and sweat-stained venues all over it, In Gold Blood is the album for you - Kids In Glass Houses, re-affirming again why they're one of the most exciting young rock groups around.
He's been in Busted, dallied around with Fightstar, but his solo venture is without a doubt his most comfortable fit to date. Turning to melodic acoustic riffs and folk-tinged melodies, Charlie Simpson's Young Pilgrim album is a real surprise delight for the summer. At its best it surges into Coldplay mega-ballad territory, all emotion and an authenticity that was only ever hinted at in Simpson's previous work. Here, we see him for real, all gimmicks stripped aside - the results are highly impressive.
Twitter has been in something of a frenzy over Emeli in the past few weeks, but us die-hard Cheryl Cole fans have been aware of her for rather longer. After all, she co-wrote the b-side Boys to Cheryl's 3 Words single. Now there's a fact for you! These days though, Emeli is making waves on her own, putting out soulful pop records like Heaven, which comes on like a lost Massive Attack hit. Top stuff.
The last Wombats single Techno Fan was something of a revelation - finally a song from them that was not just bearable, but very, very good. Our Perfect Disease thankfully takes a number of pointers from the aforementioned track then as its full of the same bonkers synth moments and catchy hooks that marked Techno Fan out above the indie-by-numbers songs that were previously The Wombats' calling card. With the guitars packing a surprising crunch, in another life this could even have been a cut from the latest Bloc Party album.
Two studio albums with Busted, three with Fightstar - it's been a productive decade for Charlie Simpson. And now, 2011 sees him releasing his debut solo album Young Pilgrim, a record that undeniably feels like his most assured release to date.
Lead single Down Down Down has already received plentiful airplay on Radio 1 and showcased how Simpson's new material was all about a new, more mature, more stripped-back vibe. Gone was the grandeur and complexities of Fightstar, replaced by the intensity and openness only a single man and his guitar can conjure up.
It is on new track Parachutes that Simpson really hits his stride though - a real anthemic Coldplay-esque rock ballad that puts Simpson's rich, sonorous voice to best use. It's the sound of someone far older, far wiser - a voice befitting his years in the industry, now finally given the freedom to sing true and strike straight through to the hearts of the listeners.
All things considered then, Young Pilgrim seems a particularly fitting title for his first solo foray into the world. He is the man that wears his travels and experiences for all to see, his music giving him the means to share those stories with anyone willing to hear it.
There's something so utterly British about Simpson's music - a tranquil, almost stately feel to it. Working with acclaimed Doves and Coldplay producer Danton Supple on this album, the sound of those bands is everywhere, particularly on the sublime Thorns. It's perhaps here that we best see how confident Simpson feels in these songs - everything is natural, unstressed; operating at what seems like a slower, more peaceful pace than the hectic world all around us.
It's like that feeling when you step into a shop and try on a whole heap of clothes that don't suit you, only to finally find that one item that does at the end. It's that subtle sense of satisfaction, of humble accomplishment - and it's here in Young Pilgrim - this is the sound that fits Simpson, that really suits him; and you can tell he knows it. More confident, more assured - that satisfaction shines through in the music.
It's there in Thorns, the guitar positively twinkling - conjuring up images of birdsong at morning, stars at night. And it's there in Farmer & His Gun - channeling a more traditional singer-songwriter vibe, even working in country elements with lush swathes of harmonic.
Like so many band members 'gone solo' before him, Young Pilgrim is the sound of a man set free from restriction, resulting in a record that feels more organic, more caught up in the personality and feelings of the individual. In other words, that distinct 'personal' touch.
Young Pilgrim is released on the 15th August and can be pre-ordered here. Parachutes is released on the 8th August.
