One Sunday, I found myself strolling down the main street of The Rocks Street Fair where lo and behold, I found myself tapping my foot to the tunes of busker Mark Wilkinson. Months later, I'm sitting in the audience of one of his Sydney gigs as he kicks off the promotional tour for his upcoming album. The night was a sell-out, to devoted fans of mixed ages, from university students to middle aged couples.
The atmosphere is one of ease, there are about half a dozen couches and there's a red glow about the place, the tea light candles just add that extra touch. Glebe Cafe Church was an interesting venue to choose, but it didn't disappoint. Church by day- community space by night, the high ceilings and intimate space allowed room for him to breathe, and to glorify his music. For the past few years, Wilkinson has been busking in places like The Rocks to raise funds for his new album and now he's in the later end of production, he's giving fans a taste of the surprises he has for us ahead. In his repertoire, he played a number of times from his new album, mostly songs never before experienced, so he made the audience feel privy, even smug at the idea of listening to something before its been released, sings like Chasing Rainbows. As well as this, he gave each crowd member an EP, a short selection of songs from the new album, just making the audience hungry for more.
Wilkinson knows how to command a room, his music has a current in an ocean, that is calm at times, then crashes in a wave, a cresendo. As a one-man band, the spotlight sat on him and his acoustic guitar and he lost track of time, playing new tracks and appearing the audience with accepting requests from old songs. His guitar work is exceptional and all his songs are original works, songs proving that he is a great singer/songwriter. Granted, his songs have mostly the same sound, but when aimed at the right audience, aimed this established artist takes flight. He fits nicely within the genre of soft pop, not really experimenting with sound, not really bashing it out on the drums, just standing on stage with a guitar, playing all the soft harmonies himself, crooning feel good songs of love and love lost. Wilkinson sound like a blend of Don Mclean, James Blunt and Tracey Chapman and vocally, he is rather talented. For a bit of context, he perfumes a superb rendition of Tracey Chapman's Fast Car.
His songs were comfortable, smooth and suave, softly old fashioned and gentlemanly in approach, possible even retro in ambience. The tunes are the kind of soundtrack to a road trip at dusk beside fields of long, faded wheat. It was nostalgic, if anything. In a sense, his voice isn't aft all powerful, but it's strong and confident and commands the audience by controlling tempo and volume, very professional. In this respect, Wilkinson is a true performer. While only busking to raise funds, he's still a performer and artists like these need to be experienced live. The sound recordings don't display the atmosphere and mood that a crowded room holds, so a gig like this is registrant worthwhile. For example, Coldplay can transfer their energy and enthusiasm from concert to CD, (obviously your home experience probably doesn't include confetti, but their sound translates). Performers and buskers don't seem to be able to make the glorified leap to audio, because there's an intuitive synergy with the spectator and spectacle.
Wilkinson has two more performances at the Glebe Cafe Church, from the 10th-11th of May, then travels to Wollongong on the 17th of May, then finally leaves for a tour of Germany, Ireland and the UK.
For more information, please visit- http://www.markwilkinsonmusic.com
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