Meanwhile… I'm Still Thinking

A while back Gary Pig Gold and I decided to create a music label dedicated to putting out compilations of home demos. We called it “The Unsound Series” and we actually were able to get a couple of albums out the door before the bottom fell out of the CD market. Once we made the announcement that we were going ahead with this project we were literally swamped with homemade CDs, tapes, press kits etc. We listened to everything that came in, and a lot of the music we received was really good.

One of the packages came to me from a place called General Ludd Music (lots of good music there, by the way), and there were several CDs included, one of which was “Tiller’s Lament” by Brian Forden. I listened to it and was utterly blown away. I tried my best to find out more about the artist with very little luck, but I did import the songs into iTunes with all of my “normal” music and soon found myself listening to “Tiller’s Lament” all the time. I listened when I ate, when I wanted to nap, when I was depressed, when I wanted to wind down… in other words, practically every day… literally hundreds of times. In the last 10 or so years this is the ONLY album that I’ve given this kind of treatment to, which leads me to think:

“Tiller’s Lament” is one of the best albums released in the last dozen or so years. For real.

So what does “Tiller’s Lament” sound like? First of all, Forden’s voice is a quiet sigh – smooth, tuneful and completely unaffected. The album is mostly just this voice coupled with a lush, non-rhythm acoustic guitar – at times other instruments are in the mix (recorder, bass and drums), but always the music is full-sounding, confident and just right. The songs are all short, melodic and instantly hummable. One thing I just realized while writing this: after all of the times I’ve listened to “Tiller’s Lament”, I still don’t know any of the words – the album puts me into a state where words don’t matter.

There is a kind of song that makes you feel a certain way: songs of longing and tranquility, songs that give you the space to remember and wonder. This is an album full of songs like that, and you’ve got to hear it.

I don’t know Brian Forden and I gain nothing from giving “Tiller’s Lament” this kind of recommendation. I just truly believe that everyone needs to hear it.

General Ludd Music has graciously made “Tiller’s Lament” available as a free download here. I’m telling you… get it and pass the link along to everyone you know who even has a smattering of interest in music. May you listen hundreds of times and love it like I do.

Keepers:

La Belle Epoque
Scarecrow
Where the Wind Will Blow
A Cloak of Elvenkind
Simon
Madrid
Adelaide
Olivia
The Tiller’s Lament

Download “Tiller’s Lament”