Charlie Simpson – Young Pilgrim

Charlie Simpson has made a name for himself in a number of different circles and has acquired fansacross the globe thanks both to his former boy band Busted and his current rock band Fightstar. When Fightstar decided to take a break from their work in 2010, Simpson began to work on a soloproject. Young Pilgrim is his debut album and it’s worlds away from anything he has done previously.

The first track and first single of the album, ‘Down Down Down’ very much represents exactlywhat to expect from Young Pilgrim. The first part of the song is slow and thoughtful, the secondis breathless and full of energy and the third part is a symphony of harmonies. All three of theseelements form the main attractions of the record as a whole. It’s awash with harmonies, acoustic guitars and sweeping string arrangements and though it sometimes bears more than a few elementsof pop, it’s most certainly a folk album in both atmosphere and sound. The deep similarities with classic singer songwriter artists which Charlie himself lists as his influences, such as Jackson Browne, does threaten to make the album sound somewhat cliché, but it has enough character to feel freshrather than faded.
As the title suggests, Young Pilgrim sounds like a look back at a young man’s life and his journey through it, with a plethora of references to times gone by and memories to miss, especially in the song ‘Suburbs’, where lyrics like “You are watching me from somewhere / Yet I don’t know whereyou are anymore” summon powerful emotions of regret and nostalgia. However, it also brings to attention another subtle element present throughout the album, which is of faith. In the beautiful ‘I Need a Friend Tonight’, Simpson directly references this, “I’ve been trying to find Jesus”, as he sings about the longing for companionship. It’s a relatable feeling whatever your faith, and the desire for someone to confide in is felt powerfully in the track. There’s a very strong sense of the importance of these songs as you listen to Young Pilgrim and it’s clear that the album is a labour of love. The epic closer ‘Riverbanks’ is a personal highlight. What begins as a gentle anthem becomes a huge and cinematic climax as the last minute or so builds to a crescendo of piano and strings. The lyrics, ‘Open your eyes, something beautiful is happening’ represent the most positive thought on the album as Simpson pleads for us to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.

Charlie Simpson is clearly a talented musician and you can sense the care and attention that went into Young Pilgrim. His vocals are full of heart and the music is full of subtle touches and pleasant surprises. It’s certainly very different to anything we’ve heard from Simpson. It sounds very much like a folk record of yesteryear but with a modern, well-produced sound and the occasional contemporary pop song like ‘Parachutes’, whose melody will be etched into your memory forever.

Tracklist :

1. Down Down Down
2. Parachutes
3. All At Once
4. Thorns
5. Cemetery
6. Hold On
7. I Need A Friend Tonight
8. Suburbs
9. Sundown
10. Farmer & His Gun
11. If I Lose It
12. Riverbanks

Glen Lewis