Michael Brinkworth – Wasted Wonder
The Famous Gold Watch Records – 21 May 2021
After years on the road, the Australian singer-songwriter Michael Brinkworth wrote ‘Wasted Wonder’ about finally settling down – or at least thinking about it – in Berlin. Brinkworth’s sophomore record touches on different themes that come with staying put, such as connection, love, and ruminations about the often difficult path the artist chose for himself. The songs didn’t come together in the studio but while on tour – performed live and sung to audiences well before they were recorded. The songs fit around their creator like a second skin, and Brinkworth delivers them with a natural ease that comes only from artists that have honed their craft through experience.
The opening track Thick Skin talks about the struggles a musician faces while ‘bar-busking’ – playing in bars around Berlin for hat donations. Brinkworth eases the listeners into the song with a sparse guitar intro and a raw, breaking voice that makes you want to lean in to listen to his story. The chorus erupts with backing vocals, a piano, and a sax, with fevered harmonica lines that are ubiquitous on the whole album. “Giving up on it all is the only thing/ That I fear”, Brinkworth sings almost casually, but the doubt is still audible in the musician’s voice. The song is succeeded by Good Old Feeling, One More Time (Just For Fun), and Liguria – tunes that all follow the songwriting golden rule of an earworm chorus.
Force of Nature is another song dedicated to Brinkworth’s love for music. Opening with the lyrics “You’re such a force of nature/ No one could stop you if they tried”, it sounds almost like a love song to a long-lost lover, and that’s not far from the truth – the song is a homage to Neil Young. The songwriter guides you through his experience of listening to his icon, transporting the listener to a place of young innocence: “The first time I saw you playing/ I was with my father, you were with old friends/ The second time was even better/ I was high, we were in Berlin”. The guitar-driven track builds when a fast organ line is introduced, leading into a harmonica interlude. In the bridge, the instruments drop away to make space for Brinkworth’s vocals. Even though his voice is more reminiscent of Jeff Tweedy’s warm, vulnerable vocals, the dynamics of the songs echo Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’.
Although never released as a single, another standout track from the album is Sunday Shoes, written after watching a busker play to uncaring passers-by in Melbourne. There’s compassion in Brinkworth’s lyricism as he sings: “You can see him strumming out on the street/ Through the winter cold and the summer heat/ Well, he’ll give you a howl, he’ll rip his lungs out/ Anything to stop you in your tracks”. Despite the wistful imagery, the song is a rock ditty where the singer’s voice strains from first-take recording zeal.
Falling in Love with a Broken Heart is one of the most melancholic songs on the album and drips with honesty. The rough-around-the-edges, sorrowful delivery encompasses chair creaks and vocal cracks, and the sparse, intricate arrangement of guitar and voice interweaves with the harmonica lines. King of Indecision is a heart-breaking ballad in which Brinkworth sings: “I am the king/ Of indecision/ Nothing can kill/ My inhibitions, no”. The song starts out with a gentle piano, but towards the end, the songwriter shatters through psychological walls, as the song erupts into cacophony, with arhythmic, overdubbed percussion and the other instruments spinning out of control.
‘Wasted Wonder’ closes out with The Path, a sober piano track where the artist’s vocals grate with resigned emotion. “I could have chosen/ Any path/ But it felt like this would do/ And so I walk/ Along this path/ It’s the only thing I have”, Brinkworth sings. Even if it seems he’s still unsure about the direction his music career has taken, the wonder of his music is not wasted on his listeners. The songs swing from fatalist melancholy to hopeful naïveté with a relatable authenticity. The autobiographical record sounds like an ode to the uncertainty of life, with all its joys and trials, shouting into the ether that, even when everything goes to hell, at least that’s how we know we’re still alive.
Order/Stream: https://smarturl.it/WastedWonder
Photo Credit: Magda Kucharska Photography