Project Description

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MICHAEL BRINKWORTH
‘Wasted Wonder’
Album Review

(23rd June, 2021)

Reviewer: Melanie Griffiths

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‘[One More Time (Just For Fun)] is one of those tracks which immediately offers you rewarding catharsis as soon as you hit play. It’s not all too often you’ll get to hear that from a breaking artist.’ – Amanda Vandergast, A&R Factory

‘You can feel the sun beaming through the song!’ – Craig Quartermaine on Good Old Feeling, 
 ABC Radio Australia

King of Indecision is ‘…a richly layered and ambitious song” that “brings to mind Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era Wilco in the way the song unravels and collapses into a collage of distorted sound, echoing the despair of the lyrics’
 – Andrew Frolish, Americana UK

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THE ALBUM
Track by Track

Thick Skin

Previously, Brinkworth gave us a taste of what “Wasted Wonder” would be about with his first single from the album, “Thick Skin”. A song that tells the familiar struggle that all gigging musicians face. The universal tale of picking yourself up when the recognition seems so far out of reach. It’s almost comforting to know that no matter where you are, or where you came from the uphill battle we all face for success is a globally shared one. Taking it’s cues from the likes of Wilco and Paul Kelly, “Thick Skin” is upbeat and entices the listener in to let us know that this album will be giving us an insight into the world of dedicated musician.

Good Old Feeling

Good Old Feeling may be the most country sounding song on the album featuring a slide guitar and horns. Wrapping up the listener like a warm blanket, Good Old Feeling sounds like a song you’ve known for years. The song which speaks of Brinkworth falling slowly could apply not only to a lover but also his relationship with performing. Musing over that familiar “good old feeling” the song embraces an unhurried rhythm that settles in as a bridge to carry the listener from the contemplative “Thick Skin” to the rousing “One More Time (Just For Fun)”.

One More Time (Just For Fun)

From the easy pace of “Good Old Feeling” the following track “One More Time (Just For Fun)” takes it up a gear with its bluesy bright tempo. This one could be labelled the dance track of the album even as it addresses that needing the pick yourself up from hardship. The guitars keep the pace and the use of the harmonica gives the song a homegrown roots honesty. With lyrics likes, “I’m not good enough to be great, but I’m better than ‘not bad'”, Brinkworth’s vocal shines with a vulnerability and honesty that consoles and lifts us. Earmark this one to become the crowd favourite as it’s slightly impossible to not for the charm of the song.

Liguria

Like its namesake town in the Cinque Terre, Italy, “Liguria” has the dreamy romance of a summer love affair. Here Brinkworth aims to create a fuller soundscape that is texturally so different from the previous track “Good Old Feeling”. Brinkworth gives himself the space to let his voice speak directly to his muse. Confidence seeps through the unhurried tempo and as the vocals fall away leaving us just with a melodious harmonica, the emotional weight of Liguria lands solidly before it leads up into “Pub Singer’s Lament”.

Pub Singer’s Lament

Then as soon we land from “Liguria” Brinkworth gives us “Pub Singer’s Lament”. By capturing our attention with an extended instrumental in “Liguria” our attention is snapped back to Brinkworth’s journey as his voice reverberates with pathos over a stirring piano track. Brinkworth has a skill at creating these incredibly intimate moments with the simplest arrangments, when you hear him singing you believe every word such is his verity. There is regret, there is self-reflection and an internal struggle but despite that Brinkworth sees the innocence and fresh joy of his early days as a songwriter.

Force Of Nature

We don’t stay too long with a sense of ennui as Brinkworth shakes off the self-scrutiny with “Force Of Nature”. Admittedly an autobiographical track that Brinkworth has referred to as his “love letter to Neil Young”, this song swells with optimism. “I know that there is no way you’ll ever hear this song” sums up the lucidity of the pleasurable act of creating music and the icons that inspire us.

King of Indecision

Brinkworth is at his best when lets his experience shine through with stripped-back songs that show fully not only Brinkworth’s experience as a musician but also hint at a life spent gigging tirelessly through countries, pubs, festivals and everything in between. “King of Indecision” encapsulates all of that starting like a whisper but gradually builds with an undefinable tension that feels by song’s end chaotic and yet like a cathartic moment as Brinkworth’s voice remains the one constant steadfast element throughout.

Sunday Shoes

From the deep cut of “King of Indecision”, “Sunday Shoes” gives us a reprieve with a song fully of buoyant, joyful energy that is intended to get everyone to sing along by the final verse. Brinkworth croons “you don’t need no microphone to sing the blues” and connects into the universality of music and how can comfort us as much as it can devastate. With a rhythmic country guitar leading the way the song has a world-weariness to it that could play just as well as on the country circuit in Australia as it would through, his established home of Europe

Falling In Love With A Broken Heart

Hold onto your heart because this song is overwhelming in its honesty. Brinkworth speaks of a failed love affair that from the outset seemed doomed but sometimes that doesn’t dissuade us in matters of the heart. Brinkworth again strips back the production, leaving just himself, his guitar and harmonica. Touted as his saddest song, Brinkworth has laid it all bare for us to see, and that can only come from a songwriter who has the confidence to show us all facets of his life, the good and the bad. This one will take you back to that one bittersweet past relationship that took you so long to shake

Foolin’ Around

The title of the album “Wasted Wonder” actually came from “Foolin’ Around”, “you waste all your wonder when you’re younger, till one day you wonder where it’s all gone”, it’s a reference to coping with the loss and struggle of our youthful dreams against the ongoing acceptance of life’s realities. “Foolin’ Around” with its impassioned commentary is a soothing song that hints that the journey for Brinkworth is far from over.

The Path

Recorded in one straight take “The Path” serves as the final toast to an album that strove for clarity amidst a lot of soul-searching. The one-take approach gives the song a raw sound that is a completely fitting sound for the conclusion of “Wasted Wonder”. Like a crackly Robert Johnson recording, you can still hear the life lived by Brinkworth as he lays bare all his heartbreak whilst still offering a flicker of hope for better things. “Wasted Wonder” is the type of album that strikes a chord because of Brinkworth’s confessional songwriter and his innate ability to exercise restraint in production to allow his story to be clearly heard, and we do.

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AMNPLIFY – DB