Where inventiveness spreads and musical genes abound, a not-at-all stupid English boy grew up in Suffolk, England to hotel owners. Charlie Winston impresses with Hobo, garnering attention for his varied pieces and witty phrasing. Delving into the swallow of troubadour folk to the comfort of soulful bellows, Winston is an ingenious singer-songwriter, and I imagine that this artist’s harvest can only get better. Nothing can stop the whistling traveler in Like a Hobo and in the midst of the industrious right hand piano fingers, he ponders the existential questions in Boxes. There are scores of highlights to the twelve-track album as the artist drinks to a “Precious life with a heart of glass”. From breaks of cries and whispers in Soundtrack to Falling In Love to the Tongue Tied e-for-effort language class, Every Step is an expression of a timeless lesson-learned or a promise made. Even the hilarity of My Life As a Duck has something to offer, if you’re willing to unravel it outside of the boundaries of its humor and blatant lyrical rhyme. Bear in mind the obvious contrast between the humor of the latter and the final track, My Name, a dark, creeped-out and lonely composition, offering no apologetics. Just another proof of Charlie Winston’s wide-range of artistic capabilities. Before I end up pointing out every track on this album in bullet form, I’ll underline once again that Hobo is a magnetic output, worthwhile of a listen. And as for key tracks? Where do I begin?
Key Tracks: Like a Hobo, Every Step, My Life As a Duck, Boxes
Moods: Intimate, Passionate, Reflective, Yearning, Visceral, Plaintive
Buy: Hobo
related
- Charlie Winston @ L’Astral – 03.11.10
- Charlie Winston – Last Night @ L’Astral
- Charlie Winston – Last Night @ Ottawa Bluesfest
