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.
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.
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.
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.
