Listen: Charlie Cunningham - "Outside Things" [Premiere]

That quote isn’t just PR fluff: armed only with an acoustic guitar, Cunningham capably explores the visceral nature of life outside the womb. With raking hand strums held in check by the beat of the singer-songwriter’s palm against the bridge, “Outside Things” is instantly discernible from your typical solo sad bastard fare. This is more Rodrigo y Gabriela than Damien Rice, perhaps owing to Cunningham’s time studying guitar in Seville.

Filling the space with impassioned vocals, Cunningham imagines the confusion (“it's a boy, it's a boy, it's a boy, I don’t know what all that means”) and helplessness (“I’ma get back inside, you can rely on your mother”) of a newborn in stunning fashion. Exploring an experience that is both universal and unknowable, he sounds far more comfortable (and, perhaps, far less creepy) than you’d expect from a young solo artist. Then again, the brilliance of “Outside Things” may be a sign that it’s time to readjust our expectations for Charlie Cunningham.

"Outside Things" appears on Cunningham's forthcoming EP of the same title.