Charlie Simpson has carved himself quite a career these days. It could have been all so easy for him to return to his pop star past, joining his former Busted bandmates who have been touring up and down the UK in some of the country’s biggest venues. It’s a testament to his belief and passion in what he’s doing that he didn’t take that route, and as a result Charlie Simpson’s sophomore album ‘Long Road Home’ is a brilliantly created, mature example of song writing that’ll enhance his ever-growing reputation.
In all honesty ‘Long Road Home’ doesn’t quite get off to the greatest of starts, with its title track opening up with a fairly simplistic keyboard riff that doesn’t quite get the blood pumping – it’s overly simple and doesn’t match up with the brilliantly infectious chorus. It’s an error of judgement, but not one that detracts too much from the overall product. From here though, ‘Long Road Home’ goes from strength to strength, ‘Comets’ has hit single written all over it, while any fan of Charlie Simpson has already heard the wonderfully poignant ‘Winter Hymns.’ The quality rarely lets up either; ‘Emily’ is a masterclass in how to deliver a perfect harmony while ‘Blood’ is another potential single with a mega chorus.
The final couple of tracks isn’t quite the burst of energy we became accustomed to on ‘Young Pilgrim.’ Things are brought down a notch and it’s the song writing capabilities that come to the forefront here. Especially on final track ‘Another Year’ which is quite frankly stunning and ends on a foreboding keyboard-led outro, that in a live setting allows for a good all out mosh should the moment dictate.
Now, with two incredibly well-judged albums behind him, ‘Long Road Home’ could be the springboard that takes Charlie Simpson to the next level.