Will Foulkes, hailing from London, is an emerging act with his new album “Charleston Blues”. This is just under 40 minutes and twelve songs of fathom-filled homage to the music that has shaped the sounds we’ve loved over a century. Foulkes hints at this with a tragic modernity that is at once reverent and thrillingly fresh. The album starts in style, and right from the off, it is clear that this is going to be so much more than your average blues record. Playing a hodgepodge of different instruments, Foulkes generates a rich and vibrant sound.
And while he’s thus had direct lines to blues heroes like Robert Johnson and Otis Redding, Foulkes has a way of creating his own sound. Packing the sharp melodic sense of George Harrison, the emotive honesty of Eric Clapton, and a nice helping of modern Singer/Songwriter sensibility. One of the standouts is “Dropped Out.” On this standout track, Foulkes juxtaposes reflective lyrics with sprightly music, discussing the ideas of being found and apart from society. The accompaniment is slick but without being overwrought, and lets his voice sing the heaviness of the number itself. On the other hand, “Still Alive” closes out the album on a nebulous, optimistic note.
The album is titled “Charleston Blues,” and that’s correct. The music he made is a lot like Charleston, the city, in that regard, about marrying tradition with the modern. Foulkes transitions between such stylistic left turns with such effortlessness that it all winds up flowing as one. He has some heavy belters in his catalog of songs that seem to never date, recalling the tear-stricken wailings on a guitar by John Mayer and or Jeff Lynne’s melodic precision, but combining the two into something that feels authentic and personal. But what sets the song apart is its emotional resonance.
Every song is crafted to make whatever thoughts are already reflected at that moment feel fresh and draw the listener in. Listening to “Charleston Blues,” Will Foulkes proves he’s just a walking history of American music, but a builder of new forms and emotional spaces. Both a tribute to the tradition of the blues and a step forward musically, acting as a bridge between raw, traditional material and modern recordings. If you like good music, honest lyrics, and a voice as familiar as refreshing on this hot August day, “Charleston Blues” is worth the ear canals.
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