Charlie Atlantic returns

In a bit of a Pop Web exclusive, we are thrilled to announce that one of our favourite unsigned singer-songwriters Charlie Atlantic is launching a solo career. Following on from his impressive career as the frontman of Oxford-based band Inlight, Charlie is looking to recapture the buzz that surrounded his vocal and songwriting talents with The Lost Generation EP which will be released in August (further details and preview snippets can be found at his website www.charlieatlantic.com).

First impressions of the tracks we've heard thus far indicate that Charlie is going down a moodier and more atmospheric path than he traversed in his Inlight tenure. The tracks on the EP are largely piano, rather than guitar led and lyrically, Charlie very much plays up the despair in one of the lead tracks Paranoid with anguished cries of "Nobody tells me what's going wrong/ What do they have to lose?" permeating the haunting track Colours. For new listeners, this may all seem a little daunting and oppressive; those of us aware of Charlie's wider range of work, however, will be pleased to see him settling on a sound and exploring a mood in one coherent piece. A little light against the shade is the country-tinged Why Oh Why? which bubbles along beautifully and neatly counterbalances the sombre tone of the rest of the EP.

One of the key tracks underpinning this EP campaign is the sublime Dido and Aeneas. Referencing classical mythology and weaving it into an accessible and emotional ballad is no easy feat, but Charlie's deft musicianship and raw vocal reels the listener in and results in a beautiful and reflective piece. 

Underpinning Charlie's motivations behind this EP, is a considerable dissatisfaction with the present state of pop music, expressed in an open letter on his website. Some of Charlie's points hit a real nerve (pop's current infatuation with "the club" or "the floor", for example - although we'd also like to point out that for every "Club Can't Handle Me" there's a "Telephone"). As the campaign for the EP continues to roll out, however, we'd like to see Charlie highlight some of the positive contributions he can make to the field. Being the talented songwriter that he is, we have no doubt that his aim of recapturing music for the "poets" over and against "the programmers" is one well within his reach.