British Folk-Rock, truth & guts

10 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, ROCK: Acoustic



Details:
Recorded ''guerrilla style'' without artificial effects, midi sounds or samples,
Spotlight is the debut album by Joe Wilkes.

A year ago, this eloquent, young singer songwriter started to record songs that would eventually comprise this 10 track 40 minute acoustic testament. Recorded mostly live, perhaps the smartest thing is the contrast between exquisitely written string parts and seemingly improvised melodies, immaculate guitar riffing, and other ââbluesyââ elements. A surprisingly consistent album that seems to make sense of the re-emerging British folk scene and modern times.

Folk,Jazz and Indie influences knit together with surprising cohesion....the entire album offers up a striking melange of tones and textures in true 'it shouldn't work but...' style. Opener Spotlight introduces the indefinable exoticism which hovers around many of these tracks, with a certain mysteriousness conjoured by the taut guitar, arresting gypsy-styled strings, enigmatic melody and stylish woodwind parts....Wilkes' ear for an attractive melody is spot-on from start to finish. Many up-and-coming singer-songwriters produce highly competant first albums but fewer of them couple quality with a genuinely individual sound. ....he has the advantage of being instantly memorable. Maverick Magazine

Joe Wilkes has made the odd recording before, but Spotlight shows a new level of maturity in the work of this twentysomething Brit....He's happiest spinning out effortlessly charming melodies underpinning his sweet 'n' sour lyrics....A haunting set that deserves to be spot-lit. Hi-Fi Choice

Not for the first time, being down and out in Paris makes for startling artistic results....Having decamped to Paris in 2002 to get it together after finding himself 'between houses' in London, whatever Wilkes was running away from he / we were more than compensated with the collection of songs that returned with him across the channel. Spotlight as Wilkes did himself, reaches beyond the shores of it's influence....it rewards the listener with an eclectic collection of roots based music, with the stylistic variety a whole album requires yet remaining focused and congruous throughout. Americana UK

Lying somewhere between folk and mainstream, his music gets under your skin....there's a strong feeling that here is a singer who cares about the world and it's sanity....This is a debut album to be recomended if you like acoustic folk-rock and want to hear a talented British musician giving the folk legacy a new British and personal twist. The Morning Star

It's an unfussy affair....his throaty, smoky voice sounding as sustained by life as you might expect from someone twice his age.'I wish I could sing a good song for you' he says on the encouraging This Time Won't Last Forever. These songs will do for now, Joe, these will do. NetRhythms

''Bubbles floated through the air whilst Joe Wilkes serenaded the masses stretched out before him, his laid back attitude and emotive tunes eked out to the chillers amongst the blades of grass'' BBC Cambridge

"If you like your music to be played by storytellers who have taken a few good kickings, kept their pecker up and decided to tell the tale then this might be for you.... effortlessly knocks out some f****** superb chord changes that take you into different rooms in a very cool house" Futurenow

''One of the best live acts currently playing the Spitz'' Audience magazine

Joe Wilkes is a young folk guitarist who is starting to generate a well-deserved buzz around his debut album âSpotlightâ. What becomes immediately clear is that Wilkes is a superb guitarist; His intricate finger picking style, incorporates percussive bass and lead, calls to mind John Martyn before he gave himself over entirely to echo plates. As a performer, Joe is equally as engaging, although in a much more self-deprecating mannerâ¦. he took us on a guided tour of âSpotlightâ, folk music that is English by definition, and although very contemporary you can draw a line from Wilkes through Nick Drake to Bert Yansch with many points in between. Americana UK

"Onecannot help but being reminded of Gram Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers or The Birds under Chris Hillman.... laid back, tongue in cheek and an appearance not unlike the late, great Gram.... up there on the entertainment high ground" Irishfrance

''This debut album by Joe Wilkes comes like the much needed current of fresh air to the UK music scene. His smoky, vocal timbre and guitar dexterity, immaculate feel for melody and tonal balance are of a quality that will be hard to equal by any other young singer working in the UK today'' Artery Productions