Checking For Echo Project - Life & Other Short Stories vol. 1

 

Following on from his debut solo album project of last year - The War is Never Won - Jon Farley has used the last year of lockdown to good effect and produced Volume 1 of his new project, Life and Other Short Stories, a collection of 6 new songs alongside 3 covers and a spoken word coda. Alongside his own contributions as songwriter, drummer, bassist, guitarist and keyboardist, Jon elicits the help of ten other musicians to produce a thoughtful, evocative set of songs, chief among whom is Suzi James (Fearful Symmetry) whose guitar work throughout is exemplary.

The covers included are of Frost*'s 'Saline', IQ's 'Red Dust Shadow', and Long Earth's 'My Suit of Armour', and each of these brings a new depth to the overall feel of the album, and I find Freedom To Glide's Andy Nixon's vocals on 'My Suit of Armour' particularly well-suited and quietly powerful.

It would be fair to say that this is not a Friday night party album: the general mood is one of reflection, and Jon's piano-led writing lends itself to this. That mood does lift occasionally, when Suzi "lets go" in 'Stillborn' and 'Seen But Not Heard' (and these, to me, seem to be when there is a need for escape in the song), but it is generally subdued. The subject matter overall is, for me, about escape and longing; trauma; the barriers that we erect to get through life; and the hot-button topic of mental health, and these are approached through the lenses of relationships, childhood, homelessness and the delicate subject of stillbirth.

The album opener, 'Stillborn', is, for me, the strongest song in the collection - certainly the one that touched me the most. In my working life as a Christian Minister, it was a subject that I'd had to confront on a small number of occasions, and it is handled so sensitively here. The song starts with a gentle heartbeat in the background, and has a quiet, soothing melody as the mother waits expectantly, but then an abrupt change of dynamic with loud and slightly off-beat guitars breaking the peace, as if there's a battle going on (maybe there is...). The climax is back to the quiet , but a different quiet, and the heartbeat slowly slows and stops.

One of the strengths of this album is the use of 8 different vocalists, who each bring their own distinctive 'voice' to Jon's songs and arrangements; another is the guitar work throughout of Suzi James (as already mentioned). But without the song-writing these would count for nothing, and Jon is both thoughtful and thought-provoking is his lyrics, and wistful and stirring in his melodies. This is music which makes you think.

All proceeds from the sales will go to support the work of Help Musicians and Stage Hand ,and the album is available at Bandcamp from 7th April 2021, with vol. 2 hopefully available later this year.