Life Is People isn’t so much an album of songs but a personal hymn to one’s maker.
Life Is People isn’t so much an album of songs but a personal hymn to one’s maker.
deadoceans.com/artist.php?name=faybill
They just don’t make them like Bill Fay any more. Thankfully, some clever fella named Joshua Henry plucked Fay from relative obscurity and here, some 40 years after his last record, is Life Is People and it is quite magnificent.
Many of you may be uninitiated into the cult of Bill Fay – I most certainly was – but after spending some time with Life Is People I find myself wholly converted to his charms. Lyrically, there may be a little too much God bothering for my personal tastes but there’s no denying the power and precision of the songwriting. Life Is People isn’t so much an album of songs but a personal hymn to one’s maker. It’s a powerful, emotional, uplifting and at times heartbreaking record. Built solidly around some hauntingly evocative piano playing and his fragile voice, the album reaches out with subtle guitar and string work at almost every opportunity. The effect is stunning. These aren’t pop songs, or rock songs, they feel more important, more powerful than that. The only exception is This World, which feels like an Ian McCulloch song from the future and welcomes in Jeff Tweedy from Wilco to give it a bit of a lift. It’s a delight.
Whether you’ve never heard of the man before, or care less for his story, one listen to Life Is People and you’ll be wanting to hear a lot more of him. Life Is People is an exceptional album and if it’s not on your best of the year list come December then I simply don’t want to know you.
Extraordinary.