Bill Fay – Countless Branches (Deluxe Edition) (2020) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Bill Fay returns with the third album in the celebrated second phase of his recording career. A prime Fay song is a deceptively simple thing which carries more emotional weight than its concision and brevity might imply. There are ten of these musical haikus on Countless Branches, as pointed and as poignant as anything he’s ever recorded. For decades now – it’s almost 50 years since he cut his classic albums “Bill Fay” and “Time of the Last Persecution” – songs like these have been Fay’s ambassadors helping rave reviews and endorsements from the likes of Jim O’Rourke (Tortoise) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) which led to a huge revival of interest in his music. He had continued to make music almost every day in the intervening decades. For Countless Branches he’s completed new toplines over some of his cache of backing tracks, most of them 20 to 40 years old.

Often reduced to a cliché of the missing link between Bob Dylan and Nick Drake, Bill Fay has become something of a cult figure, despite a less than plentiful discographic production: a single in 1967 (Some Good People), two albums in 1970 (Bill Fay) and 1971 (Time of the Last Persecution) then radio silence for four decades followed by a comeback in 2012 (Life Is People) and Who Is The Sender? in 2015. Venerated by younger stars (Ed Harcourt, The War On Drugs, Wilco, Okkervil River, Marc Almond and A.C. Newman worship the bearded Englishman and have all covered his songs), Fay is a master of concocting sublime miniatures. His songs are overall quite simple, rarely baroque or flamboyant, but yet they shine through their crepuscular toned-down gospel flair. The Brit carries the melodies with his faded but poignant voice and a refined piano accompaniment. These stylistically timeless moments are once again brought to the forefront on Countless Branches which is composed of songs written over the past 40 years, thus bringing some unfinished songs back to see the light of day with new melodies and lyrics on Fay’s favourite themes of nature, family, the cycle of life and the unimaginable scale of all of it… Music which moves the heart. – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:

Disc 1 (26:51)
1. In Human Hands (02:19)
2. How Long, How Long (02:43)
3. Your Little Face (02:44)
4. Salt of the Earth (03:39)
5. I Will Remain Here (02:06)
6. Filled With Wonder Once Again (03:07)
7. Time’s Going Somewhere (02:42)
8. Love Will Remain (02:24)
9. Countless Branches (02:20)
10. One Life (02:47)

Disc 2 (20:27)
1. Tiny (Bonus Track) (02:56)
2. Don’t Let My Marigolds Die (Live in Studio) [Bonus Track] (02:17)
3. The Rooster (Bonus Track) (03:16)
4. Your Little Face (Acoustic Version) [Bonus Track] (02:18)
5. Filled With Wonder Once Again (Band Version) [Bonus Track] (04:19)
6. How Long, How Long (Band Version) [Bonus Track] (02:43)
7. Love Will Remain (Band Version) [Bonus Track] (02:38)

Download:

mqs.link_BillFayC0untlessBranchesDeluxeEditi0n202024441.rar

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