Category: Bill Fay

If you blinked, you might have missed it. Dead Oceans quietly re-released From the Bottom of an Old Grandfather Clock last December—a twenty-five-track journey through Bill Fay’s back pages, loaded with demos and long-forgotten outtakes. Having largely disappeared from public life after the release of 1971’s Time of the Last Persecution, only to reemerge in a quietly triumphant late-career renaissance in 2012, the collection stands as a worthy and necessary addition to the English singer-songwriter and pianist’s enduring oeuvre.

Bill Fay’s apocalyptic early albums made him a cult figure, but with Countless Branches, the third album in his comeback trilogy, the London songwriter offers another set of songs about how the passing of time can make us continually more human, ever open to love and unimagined possibilities.

Despite the apocalyptic tenor of his songs, Bill Fay’s second act has been a triumphant one. On January 17th, he releases Countless Branches, the third lp in his post-hiatus discography. “Filled With Wonder Once Again,” released earlier this month, is indicative of the album’s a simple orchestration, featuring little more than acoustic guitar, piano, scattered percussion, bass, and Fay’s distinct croon.

One of Bill Fay’s favorite lyrical tricks begins with him describing a pastoral scene. In “Underneath the Sun,” the fourth track on his fourth record, he follows along as “Rain […]

First taste from the upcoming Bill Fay record,   Life is People , out August 21 on Dead Oceans. Fay’s first studio LP in over 40 years. Directed by Dan Huiting . . . Only the […]