No giveaways here. Either from the artist’s moniker (R.J.F. is one Ross Farrar of Ceremony, Spice, Crisis Man), the album title (Strange Going), its cover, or the music within.
If the cover or the title seems bleak, wait until you hear the music. Yet, there is that befuddled look on Ross’s face with that cola cup on his face that should be your guide, or it is designed to confuse the listener even further.
Ross doesn’t even want to disclose his influences, all is left for the listener to decide.
So what about the music within? It is all languid shadows, minimalistic instrumentation and production, and hushed vocals, where you have to perk up your ears to decipher what Ross is singing about, and as a full-fledged poet, he has quite a bit to say through music that could be anything from minimalistic Labradford to Young Marble Giants in a dark mode.
In contrast to his previous album (titled Going Strange, by the way) it is all seamless, you just might as well keep guessing the song titles, if there are any), it is all a seamless daydream or day nightmare if you will – minimalist, dark (even industrialist) dream pop, if such a thing exists. If not, Farrar just invented it.
