Post Description

Jason McNiff’s seventh album was recorded at his home studio in the Summer and Autumn of 2020, and there’s a sense that the enforced home-time led to reflection on a more travelling past.  Born in Bradford, living in London for sometime and now relocated to the South Coast, Jason McNiff’s journey has been less linear than that summary might imply, taking in sojourns in Italy.  Musically ‘Dust of Yesterday‘  continues to show McNiff in thrall to the British folk-boom guitar greats – such as Jansch, Renbourn, Graham and Jones –  and if one must be in thrall to anyone then there are worse choices than the giants of British Bohemian finger-picking.   Lyrically ‘Dust of Yesterday‘ could be said to be nostalgic, there are many references to lost abodes, old friends, parted lovers, but these are also linked to a sense of storytelling – as if Jason McNiff is recounting the things that made him who he is and who shaped the “I” that exists now.

Opener ‘For the First Time‘ touches on these themes as McNiff sings of revisiting somewhere he used to live “twenty years this was my town it was the place that I’d chosen” and finding himself a stranger.  Feeling out of place brings forth bittersweet memories “I never knew this place, while I lived here, like I never saw your face until you disappeared, and I saw what I loved for the last time.”  Later in the album ‘Tom‘ revisits a friendship suddenly cut short, going from a particular closeness “it’s true I knew him best, we used to play chess. talk about life, life and women” to him just not being there “I never saw Tom again, don’t know what happened to my friend.”  There’s a sense of profound loss of connection in this shuffling song as McNiff admits “now I’ve got a wife and a kid – I’m keeping it hid.”

Tracks:  
01 For the First Time
02 Try for the Sky
03 Wherever I Choose
04 Mary Jane
05 Dust of Yesterday
06 Tom
07 If You Could See Me Now
08 Damged Woman
09 A Load Along

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZiMAcL6t8A