Cyborg troubadour

Charlie Winston may call London home, but the singer/songwriter has had his biggest chart success in France, where his first album, Hobo, holds platinum status. On his latest, Curio City, the dapper Winston blends his acoustic guitar and sand-swept vocals with sparse synthesizers that are meant to evoke the futuristic cityscape of Blade Runner and the vastness of the British countryside. The Post’s Jonathan Dekel spoke with Winston about finding inspiration in his homeland after success abroad.

Q Your sound was very organic. Was it hard to bring in a programmed element?

A Sound-wise, I had this idea of a place that was closely related to Blade Runner and Drive. Those films were in the atmosphere I was trying to create — a hybrid between biological and technological. I wanted it to have an acoustic and electro element but it being a symbiosis between the two, which is really hard to do well, especially because I was producing it in my basement and playing everything except for drums and strings. Because of that I had massive writers block for the first five or six months.

Q The album was written and recorded in London. What made you decide to record at home?

A I’d moved to Paris in 2009 and had huge success with my first album and I travelled a lot for my second album so I’d been away from London for four years and not really paying much attention to what was going on there. I came back with money to buy a house and a car and build a studio in my basement. I was two streets away from where I left when I had very little money and was renting an apartment with four other people. So it was a moment where I realized that my life had completely changed.

Q You covered Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” for your NP Session. What does that song mean to you?

A I think Amy Winehouse was one of those absolute gems. She was an incredible talent in a very tragic way, as well. It’s paying homage to someone who lived a very beautiful but tragic life and left us with something great.