Evolution and reinvention are the words that can make or break an artist.
By displaying another creative side to the world and to their fans that have followed an artist’s predictable path for years is always a bold undertaking. The one thing that never changes is that opinions are rarely ambivalent.
Newton Faulkner has always been two things – ambitious and unconventional, so a genre shift is to be expected.
By revolutionising the way acoustic guitar is played and the way one man can perform onstage across the world, Faulkner has always taken things to the limit, the place where he thrives creatively.
Before he broke into commercial success with ‘Dream Catch Me’ in 2007, Faulkner was taking multiple musical disciplines and blending them all on those six strings. “I’ve played drums first, then piano and bass,” Faulkner recounts.
“The first time I played a steel-string guitar was in a local guitar shop. The things I did on bass hopped across, and I thought this is a home for all of the musical things.
“I spent a brief period thinking I had invented a completely new way of using guitars, which was obviously not true, I just hadn’t heard it done yet.
“The lineage of percussive guitar goes back quite far with roots in flamenco, and people like Michael Hedges, Preston Reed and John Martyn. I was taught by Eric Roche, and Thomas Leeb was the first person I heard doing that.
“People keep pushing it further, and I think Mike Dawes is the best with the amount of musicality he brings to every single fragment. It’s a bit like sculpting. Sculptors say there’s a sculpture inside the wood and you have to release it. I feel that way about instruments.”
Seven albums later and well known for being an acoustic instrumentalist, Faulkner knew it was time to release the other layers of his creativity, bringing them to light without the filters of expectation on his latest record, 2025’s ‘Octopus’.
“There’s a large electronic and production element, because I’m exploring production as an instrument,” Faulkner explains.
“I’ve enjoyed making things interesting and weird, and finding sonically different places. I’m inspired by many things that never made their way into my work before, early punk and aggressive stuff.
“I used to think I’d crossed a line, and should go back a bit. I considered what people expected Newton Faulkner to do next. With this album, I didn’t bring myself into it at all. I asked where is this piece going?
“With ‘Spirit Meets The Bone’, which was guitar-led to begin with, once the bass was in, it took over importance to the flow of the track. Now when I play it live, I’m playing the bass.
“I let pieces develop the way they wanted to. ‘Alright Alright Alright’ is on the heavier side and pretty full on in terms of speed and layers. There’s Bollywood samples that are satisfying and rhythmical, and the drums are Motown samples. The Bloom Twins’ vocals are another layer. This album’s pushed me in loads of ways.”
Faulkner muses on the weight of expectation and whether he feels he’s in a place within himself to disregard it. “I hope I’m there, it’s hard to say.
“Music is a form of self-regulation and therapy, it takes many forms, but it’s also what I do to feed my children. I have to make it all dovetail.
“This album has opened more doors than anything I’ve done before in unexpected quarters of the world to produce for others, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.”
‘What Took You So Long’ is Faulkner’s latest single from ‘Octopus’, with characteristically fast acoustic riffs overlaid with electronic production and sky-high vocals.
“The verse of ‘What Took You So Long’ is something I’d played to people a long time ago and they looked at me like, ‘that’s weird. Can you just do ‘Dream Catch Me’ again?’ And I’m like, ‘no?’.
“It was such a hard no, but those influences I had years ago have now come ’round to being cool, and people say I’m on the money. It’s fun because my natural leanings are just making sense.
“This album feels like it’s in a very different space to anything I’ve done before, which I’m wary of saying, but it genuinely feels different. It wasn’t my aim to do something unrecognisable from where I’d been, but I also wasn’t chasing something that was successful before.”
The task of bringing ‘Octopus’ to the stage has been challenging and rewarding for Faulkner in new ways, which is exactly where he likes his performances to be. “It’s so fun to play live.
“I’ve lost track of how many channels ‘What Took You So Long’ uses. I’ve got drums on both feet, the guitar part, the vocal, and I’ve added a huge synth sound to one string of my guitar with distorted guitar over the top, another fizzy synth isolated to the top strings, and electric guitar in the middle.
“The idea of the acoustic instrumental world is pushing the instrument as far as you can. I’ve taken that mentality across the whole board with the most challenging vocals and the most challenging guitar parts, and I see what my physical body is capable of every night. I love the challenge.”
The falsetto vocals of ‘What Took You So Long’ are new ground for Faulkner, who shares his vocal journey and the sense of freedom he now has. “My voice has gone up and down over time in terms of comfortability, then I hit some weird blocks.
“A friend suggested a scientific vocal coach, Lucinda Allen. She discovered I was having quite severe physical and medical reactions to what I was doing. I was opening my mouth so wide that my jaw bones were crushing my ear canals.
“I’ve had some amazing vocal coaches before, like Nikki Lamborn, but Lucinda’s scientific approach ticked the last box and now I’m exploring facial harmonics. I can sing a note and make different notes with my nose.
“I’ve got things right and I’ve got things wrong over 25 years. Now singing is really fun and I’m loving playing.”
Faulkner will bring ‘Octopus’ with all its musical arms – acoustic and electronic – down to Australia in April for a run of 12 shows that guarantee energy, great songs and a sweaty, exhausted man at the end.
“A lot of my happiest memories are touring Australia,” Faulkner smiles. “I’ve seen so many incredible people and made lifelong friends. It’s an amazing part of the world, and it’s been incredibly good to me over the years. It’s amazing to be coming back, I just can’t wait.”
Newton Faulkner 2026 Tour Dates
Fri 10 Apr – Paddo RSL (Sydney)
Sat 11 Apr – Avalon RSL (Sydney)
Sun 12 Apr – La La La’s (Wollongong)
Wed 15 Apr – Hamilton Station Hotel (Newcastle)
Fri 17 Apr – Barwon Club (Geelong)
Sat 18 Apr – Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)
Sun 19 Apr – Prince Bandroom (Melbourne)
Tue 21 Apr – Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
Wed 22 Apr – Jive (Adelaide)
Fri 24 Apr – The Northern (Byron Bay)
Sat 25 Apr – The Brightside (Brisbane)
Sun 26 Apr – Vinnies Dive Bar (Gold Coast)
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source scenestr.com.au ’
