If Music Republic Magazine had such a thing as “Single of the month”, this would 100% be it……………………
London singer songwriter Archie Faulks has released his gorgeous debut single “It Rains” and if this is not a hit or at least a radio hit, we give up!
Stunning vocal on a very special song. What’s not to like? The solemn love song features haunting strings on a soulful alt-folk track. While almost every male singer songwriter tried to be Ed Sheeran, Archie Faulks is being Archie Faulks. Monster potential – major label ready we think. More Chris Martin territory than the ginger one!
Who is Archie Faulks you may ask? He has a previous life under the moniker Tenterhook dating back to 2014. As Tenterhook he enjoyed success over the course of two EPs, which spawned radio hits that led him to be featured as Zane Lowe’s Next Hype on Radio 1.
He had support from BBC 6Music and Radio X. He notched up a worldwide No.1 on Hype Machine, clocked up millions of plays on Spotify and completed a number of tours across the UK and Europe – playing with the likes of Asgeir and Rhodes.
Archie says of his debut solo single: “I wrote ‘It Rains’ about a dying, but once great relationship. All we do now is fight and get back together again; with the memories of the glory days being the only thing bringing us back to each other.
“The love is still there, but I realise its no longer helping either of us, but rather taking over our days and nights with worry, anger and fear. It’s a love for things we did together and the feeling we gave each other, but not for the other person themselves.
“The song is the realisation of this, but wanting to retreat to ‘our place’ and cling on for a few more days in the vague hope that we can regain an element of the past, and not let us be washed away by the flood.”
Explaining the transition from Tenterhook he says: “I first started releasing music when I was 18, with hindsight perhaps it was a little too soon, and I wasn’t happy with the trajectory I was heading in; both artistically and mentally.
“I’ve been writing all the new material on my own, trying to create an honest and heartfelt record to both laugh and cry to. I felt like going under my own name, so that I no longer had a barrier to hide behind. It’s forced me to face my own truths and make some difficult life choices, which has hopefully made me a better songwriter and person.”
Europe got a sneak peak of the new Archie Faulks sound earlier this year when he played a number of shows with Isaac Gracie that went down a storm.
- To celebrate the release of “It Rains”, he plays a sold out, first ever headline show as Archie Faulks at London’s Servant Jazz Quarters on September 4th. A second headline show has been announced, at St Pancras Old Church, London on 12th November 2018. Tickets via: Music Glue
