Taken at face value P.J. Farley’s second solo album is a humble little offering, 9 songs, plenty of melody and largely unheralded. Then you listen to it – and man it just comes alive! And the more you listen the more you realise that this is far from ordinary! There’s a cool cranked up yet still ‘hot summer nights’ breeziness to opening track ‘Wait and Fade’ that grabs you from the off. It as has an almost modern Country Rock refrain that makes it irresistible, ‘top down’ driving music. A very palatable start indeed.
‘Walking Backwards’ that follows hot on the heels of that great opener slaps you right across the face from the off with a grungier guitar and almost Soul Asylum feel about it. It’s one of my picks of the album, but then astonishingly so are most of the rest. The prefect opening is continued with ‘Let it Rain’ the first music video that debuted on October 6th is wonderfully laid back and engaging with a strong melody and some lovely deft cuts of guitar that drive it forward. It gives things another texture and I’m already more than impressed.
And with those first three tracks I’ll wager that you already have a killer record, but there’s so much more to come!
‘Chokehold’ starts with drums and gets funky, whilst ‘Slow’ takes things right down and has plenty of light and air, but its the Pop sensibilities of the smooth yet punchy mid-tempo number that really make you sit up and listen.
With just three tracks left – two of my favourite are still to come. ‘The Good Life’ which PJ told me he had left over unfinished from the Trixter ‘Human Era’ sessions is a wonderful song, as he told me “It’s definitely something a little different, kind of a moodier with almost like a Pete Yorn aspect to it.” It’s a song that grows in stature with each play.
‘My Reason’ is another slower one, and has a yearning to it, a beautifully constructed lyric treaded through with some nice shots of instrumentation, but sat between ‘The Good Life’ and ‘Comfortable Silence’ I sadly overlooked it the first few plays, but it’s another grower.
The final track ‘Comfortable Silence’ is probably my current favourite and PJ has a great story about it in our interview. It’s beautiful song that really strikes a chord. I’d buy this record just for this one song and to me it’s what pushes this record into the ‘must have’ category.
Like Steve Brown with ‘Tokyo Motor Fist’, PJ might just be releasing the best music of his career 30 years after that Trixter debut. ‘Accent the Change’ was released on September 25th.
Track List: Wait & Fade | Walking Backwards | Let it Rain | Chokehold | Slow| You Would Know | The Good Life | My Reason | Comfortable Silence
