Artist: Charlie Simpson
Album: Young Pilgrim
Genre: Acoustic Indie Rock
Label: PIAS

When a musician names their project after themselves, most people expect a certain sound. Perhaps that label of “solo artist” gets associated with a certain level of pretentiousness, or maybe the options of a single musician writing all the material tend to be fairly limited. But regardless, the style rarely differs all that greatly, not really leaving listeners all that surprised about what they’re hearing, some like the consistency, but really, it gets old after awhile. So these sort of musicians like to really pick out and amplify, any sort of attribute that sets them apart from the rest. Now of course, most of these musicians are digging at mostly artificial traits in order to seem unique, but every once in awhile these claims are actually founded in reality, to a certain extent, anyway. One of these cases is Charlie Simpson, a musician who first gained attention from his work in British pop band, Busted, a band that was never really his passion. He was never really in to the pop scene, he had always been more of the rock persuasion, than pop, and so his time in his old pop band left him wanting more, so he left the band to start a project that he was really passionate about, Fightstar. Since Fightstar went on hiatus in 2010, Simpson was once again left wanting more, and felt the need to continue his musical career, so he ventured into the world of solo albums, releasing Young Pilgrim. Now he tries to publicize the fact that he is not simply another acoustic act, he is a legitimate rock musician making a solo album, not just another singer songwriter trying desperately to make a name for himself. And he certainly has some legitimacy to his claim, anybody that can re-invent their musical career to their liking, on multiple occasions, deserves a certain degree of respect.

Now, making such claims, and actually delivering on them are two completely different things. And on the one hand, he doesn’t a commendable job of setting himself apart from most singer songwriters and acoustic side projects, by delivering flavors of rock n roll originally promised by his solo music, but on the other hand, it feels like there could have been a lot more to this album. About half of the album has a very unique blues feel to it. Songs like the intro track, “Down Down Down” or “Farmer and His Gun” are perfect examples of excellent bluesy acoustic songs. While the other have is fairly standard fare for acoustic solo projects. Had this album been cut down to an EP, exclusively featuring the blues-influenced songs, as opposed to the more generic pieces, this album would have been leagues more impressive. But given it’s currently layout, there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to some of the songs that don’t feel quite as well thought out.

Young Pilgrim is a very impressive effort from Charlie Simpson, and is sure to help boost his solo career a substantial amount, and further assert the fact that he is not just a pop star, but an actual musician, and an asset to the rock n roll crowd. However, as solid of a release as this is, I can’t help but wonder how that album would have turned out if Simpson had focused more on one vision, as opposed to occasionally playing into the generic acoustic-rock sound. In it’s current state, it worked very well as a project to keep him occupied, and something to keep his fans interested, in the interim period when his primary project is inactive. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the album was too generic, or that it wasn’t a commendable effort, it simply has moments where it doesn’t feel too different from the standard issue of acoustic solo projects and singer songwriters. The injection of the rock n roll sound, with hints of blues, was certainly a very welcome addition to this album, but it would have been nice to see him focus more on that sound throughout the album, making it not only more interesting, but more cohesive as well.

SCORE: 7/10
Reviewed by: Mike Hogan

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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