Project Description
ACOUSTIC FOXX
‘Blustery Winter’
(Album Review)
Reviewer: Cassandra Thomson
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“Over my dead body you’ll stand, over me.” – Over Me
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Blustery Winter is the new album by Australian multi-talented singer-songwriter Acoustic Foxx. Due for release this Sunday February 24, Blustery Winter is the second album for the one-man Melbourne based band, following up from his successful debut album Guiding Light, released in 2016.
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Craig Williams, the man behind Acoustic Foxx is no stranger to the Australian music scene, releasing his debut EP Silence in Circles back in 2012 before heading off to play gigs all around Victoria and Tasmania. Inspired by the realism of life, love and loss, lust and pain and everything in between, Williams’ lyrics are down to Earth and accompany his talented artistry with trusty acoustic guitar and effortless flow between genres; influenced by the many big artists and bands of the 20thCentury.
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Blustery Winter is a 12-track album that really highlights Acoustic Foxx as an artist, showcasing how truly talented he is across genres, and across instruments as he plays the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, harmonica and ukulele across the album. Blustery Winter invites us on a journey like no other.
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Check out the track list for Blustery Winter below:
Over Me
Wayward Friend
At A Glance
There’s No Way
Blustery Winter
Beyond A Whisper
Time Flies
Underneath Her Wings
Anywhere You Go
Feel It
Remember Those Days
The Sky Is Falling
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Let’s talk about a few tracks from the album…
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Folk-grunge rock track Over Me opens up the Blustery Winter landscape, starting off strong with an instrumental melody led by the entwining force of the acoustic and electric guitars. Giving me real old school Bon Jovi vibes, Williams opens the verse with his signature but smooth vocal finesse. Recorded with Joshua Whitehead at Crosstown Sound Studio in Preston VIC, the four-minute track truly resonates the idea of fighting for what you want, your dreams and passions, and pushing forward until you can’t no more.
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“So we see the strain on your back, from the way we’re ready to attack.”
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Wayward Friend is a three-minute acoustic track led by Williams’ powerful vocals, thought provoking lyrics and the accompaniment of the heavily strummed acoustic guitar. The song leads the idea that the world can be a hard place at times, and sometimes shutting off from the world is not always a bad thing at the time.
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“Where are you from, my friend? Do you know where you are? Has this hard world brought you down, so you don’t feel anymore?”
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At A Glance is a four-minute down to Earth, folky-acoustic track featuring the intricate sounds of the harmonica, instrumental and all. The song talks about how the world is not always colourful and bright when you really look at it, but that special someone in your life can make it all seem different. I feel that we get to see a different side of Williams‘ artistic song writing, as we start to delve a little deeper into the intimate world of relationships and love.
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“The world at a glance is a wonderful place, but don’t stay for too long… As she lay by my side, as she tells me it’s alright… And it’s alright, it’s alright.”
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There’s No Way is a light folk ballad turned soft rock tune, all about breaking down those walls and barriers in order to let that special someone in, but being too late, and accepting that a once blossoming love is over.
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“There’s no way to soothe these burning eyes. No, there’s no way to keep up my disguise.”
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Blustery Winter, the song the album was named after, is a near four-minute acoustic ballad accompanied by divine harmonies and vocals of Williams and backup vocalist, Lauren Garcia. The song lived up to the expectations of the name, angelic with a haunting darkness that the thought of winter brings through Williams’ harmonies with Garcia, and the minimal instrumental used until about halfway through the track. The representation of winter and the cold could be taken in so many contexts, but this song seems to bring about the feeling of how the cold represents the emotionless, the now uncaring as a result of a bad relationship or situation.
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“Blustery winter, on a lifeless day I’m cold to touch… I’m cold.”
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Time Flies, the second single from the album, is a four-minute acoustic track dominated by Williams’ vocals and the acoustic guitar. The song talks about how ultimately time flies, how life goes by without a second glance, so take all second chances you are given, all new paths and directions offered in the short time we have on Earth.
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“Well I’m not turning my back on you, or just trying to forget you. And I’m not feeling just like you, all the anger has gone now. Can we try to see things new, for the sake of our short time here… When we’re gone, it’s forever.”
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The Sky Is Falling, the last track of the album, is a light acoustic ukulele-controlled track, impacted by the heaviness of Williams’ emotionally charged lyrics of love and life. Placing this as the last track of the album almost indicates to me, as a listener that the journey is not over, it’s far from over in many aspects. Whether it be the Acoustic Foxx journey or something more intimate and private, who knows? But this much I know, The Sky Is Falling, like all the others on the album come from the heart, are realistic to life, are relatable and are grounded and genuine in some way.
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“The sky is falling, and I can’t see straight and I keep crawling to your embrace. Well the world keeps turning around my space, and I’m always learning to keep a straight face… And I keep calling, but you don’t hear and when I talk I just wish you were here. And again, I miss you when you’re not here, and I can’t resist you when you are near… I will always kiss you when you’re unwell.”
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Acoustic Foxx has done it once again, creating an album that is relatable to the everyday folk on many levels. The use of the harmonica, ukulele and even the cello played by Lauren Garcia sets him out from other mainstream and even Australian artists, who tend to not shy away from the mainstream norm. Craig Williams really experiments with different fusions of genres across the entire song landscape, throwing in different melodies, instruments and vocal ability. It’s refreshing to listen to an Acoustic Foxx album, because if you have never listened to one before, you almost don’t know what to expect, even by the song title. Some songs are calming thanks to the melody, some are thought provoking and a real punch to the chest of the everyday realities I would think society like to shy away from.
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Blustery Winter, Acoustic Foxx. What a musical journey! Go check it out!
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You can check out Acoustic Foxx and his new album live at the Blustery Winter Album Launch, hosted by The Merri Creek Tavern, Northcote VIC on Saturday March 2nd!
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CONNECT WITH ACOUSTIC FOXX
Website | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
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AMNPLIFY – CT
Review Manager for AMNPLIFY
24 years old • Sydney, Australia
Writer • Photographer • Music Journalist
A Harry Styles enthusiast• A health nut • A lover of the Arts
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