CD: “The Joy Of A Caged Bird” by Charlie Hole

Since the age of 15 singer songwriter Charlie Hole has been performing his songs to a live audience after being encouraged to get up on stage by his Father and despite an initial lack of confidence he can still be seen regularly performing around local venues and further a field. Last year he was chosen to sing on a television advert promoting Bournemouth town centre where he sang the classic “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside” in his own very original style. See the video here.

Charlie has recently released his debut 13 track album that has been 5 years in the making and it is entitled “The Joy Of A Caged Bird” a line taken from an Oscar Wilde book “Picture Of Dorian Gray”, Charlie was fascinated by this line and thought is would be a very suitable title for his album.

The album contains some really thought provoking lyrics that really hits into the heart of the listener with each song able to give multiple interpretations from the listeners own point of view. The songs such as the Bournemouth inspired “Stones On A Sandy Beach”, “Nails Of Ruby Red” and, “Silver Or Gold” are all very different from each other giving a very varied uncomplicated audio experience. The album is not just another a singer and an acoustic guitar type of album, as Charlie has drafted in a whole host of quality session musicians to add some real depth to his songs. One of the session musicians is the supremely expert keyboard player Josh Phillips who made his name playing in bands like Big Country and Procol Harum.

Throughout the whole album it is very clear that the vocal talents of Charlie are something really special, he delivers the songs with a passion and a quality the other artists would find hard to equal. He has now based himself in London as he feels the opportunities for his career are much greater, however he still visits the south coast on a regular basis with local gigs popping up all around local venues. Charlie recently visited the Hope FM Studios in Bournemouth for a chat about his album and to play two exclusive live tracks, the excellent performance can be view on the two videos below. Despite being 5 years in the making the album is an excllent insight into the talents of one of Bournemouth’s great artist who are really putting our town on the map.

Track Listing
Stones On A Sandy Beach
Spark
Silver Or Gold
Nails Of Ruby Red
The Chapel Of Unrest
Walking On Water
Solitude
She’s Gonna Live Forever
Don’t Smile At Me
Breathing Space
Swim
Everyman(Live)
Birthday

Videos