Name: George Henry King
Instrument: Guitar and Vocals
Genre: Acoustic
Review of: 'Silhouette Trees'
Overall Production Rating: 9/10
If you were to think of a Singer songwriter, you’d probably
think of the likes of the very mainstream Ed Sheeran, or the acoustic
fingerstyles of Jose Gonzales, or the even more rhythmic up and coming Ben
Howard. However if you were to ask much of the young music scene of Essex, one
name that would be brought up among the most prominent would be George Henry
King. Throughout the months of gigs circling
Essex supporting bands, the Ex- Wasted Youth guitarist made a name for himself
after winning Colchester Arts Centres battle of the bands and then releasing
the highly acclaimed debut E.P ‘Silhouette Trees’. George Henry King now has
over 20,000 hits on his YouTube videos and has been a featured artist in the
Local newspapers, had airtime on radio stations, and his first recording
featured on the compilation album ‘Anglia Underground’ showcasing unsigned and relatively
unknown artists, showing he is making a name for himself all on his own.
After being recorded in a backyard recording studio, the E.P has
been downloaded and listened to by a huge crowd throughout Essex and beyond and
the twin track release has been received incredibly well. Being an acoustic
guitarist myself I was anxious to see what George had to bring his 400 plus Facebook
and Twitter fans. After listening to the seven and a half minutes of cover and
original, I was very pleased with what had been produced by the Sixthform
student George.
One of the two tracks featured is a cover of 80’s British
Alternative Rock band ‘The Smiths’ where he plays his rendition of their song ‘There
is a Light That Never Goes Out’. Something to note about this, is the first
time I’d actually heard this song was on George’s E.P. I happy hold my hands up
and declare that now having heard the original, George did it justice! The
first thing to notice about the recording of this song is the dense texture that
the guitar offers, which helps to fill the instrument space missing from the
original track. Without drums and bass you’d think a cover of a Brit Rock song
would sound empty, but I kid you not, you don’t miss it. Another feature in
this track that personally impressed me the most is the dual vocal that can be
heard, not only does it offer us some natural chorus to replace the original
string section but it gives this cover originality and complements George’s
voice brilliantly. As much as I like all the components of this champion cover,
I do miss maybe just a little bit of bass guitar to cut through the bright
treble of the acoustic, nothing fancy, just give it some more depth to contrast
the high vocal parts. Some may disagree but I’m just addicted to the sound of
the bass anyway.
The second track produced by the singer-songwriter is his
self-written piece ‘Silhouette Trees’ where he has produced a song which fits
in with the usual solo pieces of today with the verse chorus structure.
Something to notice about this song is the very easy on the ear finger picking
pattern which displays this gentle and bright sound which once again really
works with George’s subtle and soft voice. Also the strumming pattern he uses
really works following from the picking unlike some of the songs today where
the chorus is almost completely foreign to the verse. He also makes use of that wonderful overlaying
vocal technique on the chorus and just a subtle hint of reverb on the verse
which fills out the vocals a lot more. We then move onto my personal favourite part of
the song which is the middle eight which features chords of a sombre and darker
nature which all good middle eight parts should have and this gives a nice
change to the previous chords in the main part of the song. What I would add would be perhaps some subtle
drum within the chorus, not too much but something to give it a slight lift and
really build it away from the verse. Nevertheless,
George has created his own style with intriguing yet delightful lyrics, an
obvious passion for this profession and has produced easy listening for everyone
who wants to hear his stuff and I think he’s done a really good job with his
debut E.P.
To all that haven’t heard George’s tracks yet, I urge you
visit his Soundcloud profile and check out his YouTube page for his self
recorded video originals. My overall view of George’s E.P is that is it a well
thought about and well produced product, I still believe that the songs could
use some additional filling purely for personal preference, but they still hold
their ground as great recordings with just acoustic guitar and vocals. I and
other fans of George will be waiting to see what he has to offer from his solo
career aswell as his new band which is still yet to break out on the gigging
scene in Essex.
By Ashley Howell (ACH Music Reviews)
Thanks for reading my first review, many more to come. Please like my Facebook Page to checkout updates.
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