The return of Wilco's beloved Bill Fay - back after 40 years

[keeprighton2]

Bill Fay back with a new record nearly 40 years after his last in early 70's. Unlikely comeback for a man barely anyone had ever heard of at the time (bit like Nick Drake)

 

Saw him on stage with Wilco in London 2007 with Tweedy coaxing him through 'Be Not So Fearful', his first time onstage that night in over 30 years. He looked and sounded frail, but this new stuff is a revelation. Stunning video too.

 

Have enclosed some record company blurb explaining his story.

 

 

"Bill Fay is one of the greats - this is a beautiful album" - Nick Cave

"I can't think of anyone whose records have meant more in my life" - Jeff Tweedy

 

From Bill Fay's forthcoming LP, Life Is People, Dead Oceans is proud to present the first video - "Be At Peace With Yourself". The video was directed by Dan Huiting who is currently filming a Bon Iver documentary.

 

Watch "Be At Peace With Yourself"

 

The overlapping pastoral images (a golden field, a misty paved drive, time-lapse clouds) compliement the song's gentle orchestration with choir and organ. Director Huiting points out, "The video was shot all over the world. The opening shots and many of the cloud/water/mountain shots are from the east coast of Australia, shot by Dylan Wiehahn. Much of the aerial shots were shot in the American Northwest by Tabb Firchau, And the rest of the road and aerial shots were shot by myself in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York."

 

For the unacquainted, Bill Fay is one of English music’s best kept secrets – a genuine national treasure. Back at the dawn of the 1970s, he was a one-man song factory, with a piano that spilled liquid gold and a voice every bit the equal of Ray Davies, John Lennon, early Bowie, or Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker. He made two solo albums but his contract wasn’t renewed, leaving his LPs and his reputation to become cult items, later namedropped by the likes of Nick Cave, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Jim O’Rourke. But he never stopped writing, and the music kept on coming. Now, in his late sixties, he has produced Life Is People, his first properly crafted studio album since 1971, that shows his profoundly humanist vision is as strong as it ever was.

 

Ranging from intimate to cosmic, epic but never grandiose, Bill Fay’s deeply committed music reminds you of important, eternal truths, and the lessons to be drawn from the natural world, when the materiality and greed threaten to engulf everything. After nearly 50 years, Bill Fay has finally delivered his masterpiece.

 

Life is People will be released August 20th on Dead Oceans.

LINKS:

Bill Fay Press Alcove at Dead Oceans

Bill Fay Artist Page at Dead Oceans

[Basil II]

wow.....I thought he was dead.

 

-robert

[kidsmoke]

I'd love to hear this!

[howdjadoo]

Tomorrow Tomorrow & Tomorrow was released some 6 or 7 years ago...40 years

[keeprighton2]

Tomorrow Tomorrow & Tomorrow was released some 6 or 7 years ago...40 years

 

Recorded in 70's released in 2005....

[keeprighton2]

^{Tweedy appears as co-vocalist on the uptempo track 'This World'}

^{Bill Fay also covers 'Jesus Etc' on the record. Nioe.}