transcendental | Terroir Blues

why are you here? | Terroir Blues | Jay Farrar

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	• Terroir Blues Jay Farrar Artemis Records, 2003 average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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Stop with the Jeff vs. Jay B.S.

Grow up, stop comparing, and start listening. This is a very moving, rewarding album. And I echo the reviewer who emphasized that songs are not repeated, they are reinterpreted.

As for the Space Junk, this kind of composition is venerable by now, hardly experimental. Varèse was composing in the 1920s (um, like, that's almost a century ago), Stockhausen and John Cage in the '40s and '50s. Complaining about it now is like complaining about modern art. Illiterate.

transcendental

Jay Farrar obviously has a different agenda than his ex-partner Jeff Tweedy. I think it's most helpful and instructive to advise that if you like Astral Weeks, you will probably like this. It's dense, lyrical and somewhat abstruse lyrically. I think it's fairly amazing, and I think even Van Morrison might like it (even though he wouldn't admit it).

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why are you here?

You are here because you've come to appreciate Farrar's work. Since he blew up Tupelo, he hasn't made an album that was short on lyrics, musicianship or vocals. He's the real deal. So why are you here? You're not into top 40 nonsense, you're looking up Terrior Blues. Buy it and understand the background. Its Jay's second full-length solo, studio album since taking hiatus from Son Volt. Its 2002-2003. He's going through the passing of his father as well as the birth of the second of his two children. This album is subdued, not somber. Start with Dent County, the 15th track. No one can write about the passing of a father and capture the essence of a man in as few words and as dignified as Jay. To winemakers, "terroir" evokes the mystical melding of light, water, soil, air, and human touch that creates a wine unique to its origin. Dent County is in Missouri, where the Farrar family comes from and Jay's father was born and buried. Put the rest of it together.
Then open your mind to tracks like Hanging on to You, Hard is the Fall..."shaking the hand of the ramblin' man from Montgomery"...a reference to Hank Williams, whose hand his father once shook...No Rolling Back..the last three recorded in different ways...judge the album in its entirety only after you understand the context of these songs...fillers like Space Junk as well. Its about life, our existence...If you don't get Terrior, keep trying. You will.

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Note to Brian

A " terroir " is a group of vineyards (or even vines) from the same region, belonging to a specific appellation, and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions, grapes and wine making savoir-faire, which contribute to give its specific personality to the wine. See http://www.terroir-france.com/theclub/meaning.htm. The connotation is of a character deriving from a specific region.

On his 2001 solo debut, Sebastopol, and the follow-up EP, ThirdShiftGrottoSlack, Jay Farrar deployed a raft of new collaborators and unexpected musical ideas to fuel his departure from Son Volt. With Terroir Blues, he recycles some of those adventurous strategies while returning to a more conventional band- and song-oriented approach. The result is a disc that's complex and rewarding yet also feels familiar. Atop mostly low-key acoustic arrangements that emphasize piano and steel guitar, Farrar's usual densely written lyrics grapple with the impermanence of life ("Dent County"), love ("Hanging On to You"), and even civilization itself ("Cahokian"). Terroir Blues is also Farrar's first self-released album (Act/Resist Records), a fact that affords him a freedom reflected in the generous track list and experimentation. The disc boasts 23 cuts, including six noise snippets, two instrumental tunes, and reprises of four songs. --Anders Smith Lindall

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