New Faith - Me On You

  by Steve Kinrade

published: 19 / 11 / 2017

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Brighton’s The New Faith have, with their debut album 'Me On You', produced a set of songs that can safely be said go completely against the usual indie fayre that is served up. This is an album where Dave Izumi’s (Ed Harcourt, Jake Bugg) production is key - he has gloriously succeeded in making the compositions sonically epic; sweeping strings, choral interjections, horns - basically the kitchen sink has been deployed in making 'Me On You' a very interesting album. Compositionally, the New Faith to these ears rub musical shoulders with the National and the Divine Comedy, with Will Charlton’s rich, velvety baritone impressively supplementing this rich musical tapestry. 'Me On You' kicks off at a nice canter with the lively opener 'There, There', which serves to set out Izumi’s production credentials. Other highlights are the majestic 'Young Heart Attack', 'Haunted and Whole' and the Elbow-esque 'Aerials'. The start of 'Fritter Away' Phil Spector in his production pomp would be proud of. The album, however, has the tendency to leave this listener with a feeling of being musically and emotionally overwhelmed: the rich lyrical density, the choral/gospel interjections, the fathomless sonic palette - it can be draining. I don’t want this to sound negative, because this is an album of ambition which generally succeeds, but I think it would have been served better with a lesser running time. And with one eye to the future, have the band given themselves a conundrum for the sonic direction of their next release? Perhaps they don’t need to, the New Faith maybe all out the sweeping epic, the wide horizons, the new hope that in these times surely we all need? This is the challenges of producing of any genre of art. Everybody involved in producing this artistic statement should be heartily congratulated for their endeavours. A glance of the contributors reveals that this is an organic enterprise, singers, string players, horns - all human, not from a computer programme. For the sheer logistics involved this alone would be a triumph. 'Me On You' is a very worthwhile debut, and the New Faith is one band whose creative intent I will be sure to keep an eye on in the future. We need musicians like this, to explore sonic possibilities. We need this attitude of Icarus, to sometimes fly close to the sun for the sake of our creative aspirations. To recall a line from 'Fritter Away', for some of us, “its the part you were born to play”. And all the better for it.

Track Listing:-

1 There, There
2 Thirst for the Living Water Part 1
3 Too Sad To Be Young
4 Thirst for the Living Water Part 2
5 Fritter Away
6 Look the Other Away
7 Berlin
8 Sometimes
9 Young Heart Attack
10 Communicate
11 Haunted and Whole
12 Small Hours
13 Thirst for the Living Water Part 3
14 Aerials

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/thenewfaithband
http://www.thenewfaith.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/thenewfaithband
https://www.instagram.com/thenewfaithband/

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