Description

Life is People is the comeback album by the British veteran folk singer and songwriter Bill Fay, released on Dead Oceans Records in 2012 as his first studio album in 40 years. All Music Guide stated that “Life Is People brims with compassion, vulnerability, and tenderness. It is not a comeback record but a late continuation, a great work of art.”

English songwriter Bill Fay hadn’t made a studio album in 40 years, but he never stopped writing. It shows. Spurred on by producer Joshua Henry, who grew up listening to Fay’s two albums from the early ’70s, Fay assembled a talented cast of English musicians, former bandmates, singers from the London Community Gospel Choir, and a string quartet to flesh out songs old and new. Now in his late sixties, Fay’s voice is weathered but not brittle, and his backing band is so artfully arranged that the accompaniment never overwhelms his carefully chosen, God-focused words. Album opener «There is a Valley» speaks of a hill near Jerusalem where wildflowers “could only silently look upon” the crucifixion. He does a beautiful, solo-piano version of Wilco’s «Jesus, etc.», and Jeff Tweedy (a longtime Fay apostle) guests on «This World», yearning with Fay for “something to set us free from this world.” [Joel Oliphint, CT, October 2012]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/life-is-people/541758785)

CD tracklist:

01. There Is a Valley – 4:16
02. Big Painter – 3:59
03. Never Ending Happening – 3:44
04. This World – 3:43
05. The Healing Day – 5:14
06. City of Dreams – 6:11
07. Be at Peace With Yourself – 5:01
08. Jesus, Etc. – 4:17
09. Empires – 3:23
10. Thank You Lord – 3:14
11. Cosmic Concerto (Life Is People) – 7:56
12. The Coast No Man Can Tell – 3:07