Reviews & Good Words for
"Andrea's Exile" (2024)
Robert Christgau: And it Don't Stop Consumer Guide: September, 2024
Joe Fahey: Andrea’s Exile (Rough Fish) Did he fix the coffee wrong? Forget to feed the fish? What sparked the domestic crisis that left this mild, melodic, politically conscious Twin Cities singer-songwriter mourning the departed Andrea, whose calico and Birkenstocks he can’t get off his mind? “There’s just nothing to prepare you to take the stand at a lover’s trial/No sadness greater than the crash then the silence of Andrea’s exile,” he knows now. Can they still achieve “a life of love and laughter” or has that horse has left the stable? His tenderness and regret are so palpable that the softy in me hereby urges him not to give up yet. B PLUS
https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-september-2024
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Tom Hull: On the Web
Joe Fahey: Andrea's Exile (2024, Rough Fish): Folkie singer-songwriter, another nice album. B+(**) [sp]
https://tomhull.com/ocston/blog/index.php
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Keith Harris: Racket “Best New Music Playlist - Local Picks” September 18, 2024
https://racketmn.com/perverted-proclivities-in-piscataway-time-for-this-weeks-best-new-music-playlists
Joe Fahey, “Did I Forget to Feed the Fish?”
Often sardonic singer-songwriter Joe Fahey gets somber but never maudlin on his new breakup album, Andrea’s Exile. Here guitars chime and gals sha-la-la as he wonders what he did wrong and explicates the trouble with birds: “They got gorgeous melodies but they don’t know any words.”
https://joefahey.bandcamp.com/track/did-i-forget-to-feed-the-fish
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Peter Thompson: Americana UK September 9, 2024
https://americana-uk.com/joe-fahey-andreas-exile
Joe Fahey’s musical journey started in North Minneapolis in 1979, playing guitar or bass in a number of bands, until in 1990 he founded Carp 18 as the primary songwriter and singer, Carp 18 released two albums; “Russian Racehorse” and “Bug Rump“. Since commencing a solo career, Fahey has released five albums prior to “Andrea’s Exile”, from 2006’s “Tote Bag” through to 2022’s gloriously named “Baker’s Cousin“.
“Andrea’s Exile” comprises 10 self-penned songs and is co-produced by Fahey along with Dan Kowalke (guitar player with nine-piece Minneapolis band The Belfast Cowboys, who specialise in the music of Van Morrison). Also featured on the album are vocalists Edie Baumgart (whose work includes Edie Rae & the Blaze Kings, Bubbles, Dave Rave & The Governors) and Minneapolis singer Lisa Tradewell. The inclusion of the backing vocalists works really well; additionally, the songs’ arrangements are well thought through.
Fahey’s lyrics are at times novel, or quirky may be an apt description, in the way that, say, They Might Be Giants can be quirky. The record opens with ‘The Elusive Unicorn Blues‘ and immediately we find evidence of the witty or quirky lyrics; it’s full of puns, with the first verse being full of dental puns “You know the drill, you went to dental school, just to pay the bills. You were chomping at the bit for much, much more than hanging your plaque out on your door“. ‘Calico Dress‘ is one of the LP’s highlights; it has a memorable tune and features some melodic guitar playing, including two solos, the one which closes out the song being particularly effective. The scene here is a funfair, with a boy hoping to capture a girl’s heart but ultimately fails in his quest. “She wore a calico dress, with hair as wild as a raven’s nest her eyes were like the color of the sky and I happened to be there with all the others at the fair and when she turned I knew I caught her eye“.
‘Did I Forget to Feed the Fish?‘ is a little more up-tempo, with some neat slide guitar evident; the song covers anxieties and frustrations; “Trying to be a good boy, get to bed at a decent time, but I just toss and turn up there, trying to think of words that rhyme“. ‘Ten Years After‘ is another highlight; it’s retrospective, with a contemplative view of things, with the benefit of a different context; “I saw Ten Years After, about 10 years after Woodstock”, then following the demise of the Berlin Wall; “…but now there’s a brightness on the plaza where the shadows used to be so tall“. In summary Fahey states “Ten years after puts a new perspective in your head, all the cries and laughter can be watched, heard and read“.
The subject appears to be serious;
There are some standout moments on this album – songs such as ‘Ten Years After‘, ‘Calico Dress‘ and ‘Andrea’s Exile‘ are a cut above most of the other songs here. However the record concludes with the title track; with its serious line, “There’s just nothing to prepare you to take the stand at a lover’s trial, no sadness greater than the crash then the silence of Andrea’s exile” it seems Fahey has saved the best until last.
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Reviews & Good Words for
"Baker's Cousin" (2022)
Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics
Joe Fahey: Baker’s Cousin (Rough Fish) “There’s a vaccine on the horizon/There’s a sunrise in the east,” the opener reports hopefully, but one-note melodies and $12 cocktails impinge as the insomnia that began with “that one election” never fully loosens its hold (“All Quiet on the Midwestern Front,” “Nobody’s Afraid of Ringo”) ***
Consumer Guide: January, 2023
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Brad Luen Semipop Life Substack
Joe Fahey: Baker’s Cousin
“All Quiet on the Midwestern Front” is one of many great titles and several great lyrics which are often given all-quiet backing so you can hear that oh yeah, that one’s roasting Ted Cruz in cumin and a little achiote; otherwise, while the music isn’t as well-shaped as it was on February on Ice, sometimes it’s cathartic to let your producer go ham on his Mellotron while you rant about Abraham Lincoln’s Facebook (“Going to Cancun”, “All Quiet on the Midwestern Front”)
https://bradluen.substack.com/p/odds-and-ends-130?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Lyndon Bolton: Americana UK https://americana-uk.com/joe-fahey-bakers-cousin
Joe Fahey “Baker’s Cousin”
Pithy yet perceptive views conveyed both gently and with verve.
On the first couple of spins this album’s greatest impact is the way tracks swing from quiet, almost quirky, acoustic musings to full-on indie rock with reverb blasting in all directions. It was a lot to take in. Fahey’s gentler side is certainly easier to get into where there is much to enjoy, but the overall effect is of an artist with plenty to say who is not afraid of doing just that in a variety of ways. Much credit must go to producer Dan Kowlake, who also plays just about every instrument on the record.
To follow up his 2021 release, ‘February on Ice’, Fahey set himself the objective of coming up with a “baker’s dozen” worth of songs for his fifth solo release. Pandemic and lockdown not only gave him lots of time for this task but plenty of inspiration, so much so that including some older songs he had a list of forty. With Kowlake he cut this back to the original number with the chaos and isolation of the times being the dominant themes.
Opener ‘All Quiet on the Midwestern Front’ places Fahey both geographically and historically, “there’s a vaccine on the horizon/ there’s a sunrise in the East/ there’s a peaceful, easy feeling/ it’s all quiet on the midwestern front”. Counting in this almost spoken intro to a sparse acoustic strum suggests folky, singer/songwriter with a quirky turn of phrase. The distorted electric guitar that flows adds to the feeling of timelessness that characterised lockdown days.
Next up is ‘Two Left Feet’ where in complete contrast, the amps are turned up as Fahey’s echoing vocals compete with a hail of fuzzbox fire. Lyrically the song lurches into imbalance far deeper than just “two left feet”. That is Fahey’s knack, using simple yet vivid language to make a serious point.
Fahey conveys that sense of lockdown disorientation with ‘Untethered’, a gentle acoustic muse about, “this unrelentless storm that never goes away”. ‘The Balmy Snows of June’ is Fahey’s take on climate change. A luscious electric line is the sonic equivalent of the isobars piling in to cause meteorological havoc. ‘The Day I Left The Flat Earth Society’ sees Fahey at his lowest ebb. Kowlake’s arrangements are suitably morose.
‘I Don’t Really Care’ is a chilling reminder of the events of 6 January 2021. A riff every bit and malevolent as those storming the Capitol accompanies, “the message on my phone “be there…/ it’s gonna be wild, wild, wild”/ we gotta fight like hell and stop the steal/ the storm is coming, reality’s gettin’ real”. Nothing quirky here.
Among these songs of contemporary American life it is perhaps surprising to encounter Ringo Starr. But nothing appears off limits to Fahey. ‘Nobody’s Afraid of Ringo’ comes with an almost country twang to which he pledges his admiration, “as everyone agrees he’s the G.O.A.T.”.
As for “sounds like” the best this reviewer could do was come up with is the Chuck Prophet vibe of ‘Down to the Wire’ with its frantic pace, spoken vocals over lots of distortion and keys darting in all directions. No doubt others will have their own ideas but on the strength of this record, and introduction to his music, Joe Fahey is an original. If any final convincing is needed then his final track, ’The Oldest Punk in the World’ should do the trick.
https://americana-uk.com/joe-fahey-bakers-cousin
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Peter Jesperson: Twin Tone Records/New West Records/Manager of the Replacements
Joe Fahey – Baker’s Cousin I’ve always liked eclectic records best, something I learned from The Beatles. Joe Fahey makes eclectic records. Baker’s Cousin opens with a song that has echoes of Loudon Wainwright, then follows it with a track that could’ve been on an album by The Fall. Joe’s my kinda guy, and he’s been at it for a long time. That he makes records for the love / fun of it, as opposed to be chasing a career, makes them all the more fun to listen to. I wish we lived in the same city so I could see him play, bet he’s fabulous in a coffee house setting. Beautiful packaging on the CD too. https://www.twintonedigital.com/2022
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Tom Hull On the Web
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Joe Fahey: Baker's Cousin (2022, Rough Fish): Minnesota singer-songwriter, fifth album since 2006, too much rock reverb for country, but I suppose Americana might claim him. B+(**) [sp]
https://tomhull.com/ocston/blog/index.php
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Dan Israel: Hardest working singer-songwriter in Minnesota
With strong production work (and virtuoso playing of almost every known musical instrument) by Dan Kowalke. If you think you would like an enticing combination of influences that, to my ears, includes Leonard Cohen, John Prine, and even Weird Al in places, I think you'll dig this record. Lots of strong songwriting and interesting turns of phrase, evoking both tears and laughter. Honestly, I laughed out loud several times while listening to it (and it hit me emotionally in many ways over the course of the 13 - or Baker's Dozen, I get the title now! - songs). Pick it up on Bandcamp or at your local Twin Cities record store. A fine batch of steaming hot new tunes from longtime songsmith Joe Fahey - straight from his musical oven to your ears!
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Reviews & Good Words for
"February On Ice" (2021)
Robert Christgau Dean of American rock critics
Consumer Guide: April, 2021
Joe Fahey: February on Ice (Rough Fish) Twin Cities lifer Fahey hits the bullseye twice with the same song, the explicitly ecological “Dante’s Inferno,” which serves as both Crazy Horse-style opener and solo-acoustic closer: “What are you gonna do when the glaciers flood your basement?/What are you gonna do when you have to answer to Al Gore?” That plus its life’s companion we wish would grow old, the long overdue cheap shot “Fuck the Republicans,” would certainly inspire a guy to get his album on, especially with good ones that aren’t filler themselves close at hand. “Day Drinking With Dracula,” for instance, is a joke that comes easy. “I Feel So Alone Now” is so bereft you’ll feel a touch bereft yourself if you can just keep listening. A MINUS
https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-april-2021?r=k5aps&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy
Three of the picks in the April 2021 Consumer Guide at Substack were recorded 30-40-50 years ago, and then there's that White Stripes best-of. But all sound new, as do the two no longer young singer-songwriters and the two tested young Black pathfinders. https://t.co/fobkexdmcz
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Tom Hull On the Web
Joe Fahey: February on Ice (2021, Rough Fish): Minneapolis singer-songwriter. Has a couple previous albums, but nothing Discogs or Wikipedia have noticed. Rocks some, chills out, lyrics tend to ramble, but unique enough he may be worth the trouble. Or maybe not. Choice cut: "Fuck the Republicans." B+(***)
http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/blog/archives/2936-Music-Week.html
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Peter Jesperson Twin Tone Records Founder / The Replacements Manager
Joe Fahey – February On Ice Joe has been quietly and modestly making excellent records for many years under various guises and this album might just be his best to date.
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Jim Walsh Author of The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting
“Beautiful moving smart sweet needed soulful funny funky fun “February On Ice”
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Brad Luen "Semipop Life" Substack
Another of Minneapolis’s infinite supply of literate singer-songwriters, this one with four decades of microindie roots rock under his belt. In that time, he’s amassed a big bag of late 20th century guitar tones and has become effortless around a chord change. While he never turned into a prepossessing singer, his almost whispered low end makes you pay attention to the words, which, shock of shocks, are often the point. Strong at the couplet level, he evokes a suburban bliss that dystopia could invade at any moment; only “Fuck the Republicans” reveals that moment was four decades of microindie roots rock ago. Grade: B PLUS (“Dante’s Inferno”, “Day Drinking with Dracula”, “That Northtown Mall (Has Got It All)”)
https://bradluen.substack.com
