TRUST FUND

Trust Fund, which is backed by British singer/songwriter Ellis Jones, is back with a new LP. The fifth album "Has It Been A While?" was recorded in Sheffield earlier this year with producer and close friend Joe Mackenzie Todd and will be released on November 1st on Tapete Records.

Fans of Jones' sensitive, witty and approachable songwriting have had to wait quite a while. His last album was released six years ago: "Bringing the Backline" received praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and The Guardian, among others, but Trust Fund was put on hold immediately afterwards as some band members started families and Jones moved to Norway (and then Canada) to pursue an academic career. Or as he puts it himself, "I turned 30, moved away and thought I'd probably leave it alone now".

Fortunately, he couldn't let it go. The realization that making music was not over after all came along with the development of a mature style. While early Trust Fund albums focused on a diffuse indie rock aesthetic, Jones reduces his songs on "Has It Been A While?" to classical guitar and vocals, supported by poignant string quartet arrangements by Maria Grig. What remains is the lyrical finesse of Trust Fund, which is particularly evident here in tracks such as "The Mirror" (a duet with Celia MacDougall from Radiant Heart), in which the boastful protagonist would all too gladly use the mirror as a TV.

With his comeback album, Jones wanted to create something that was both enjoyable and challenging: "I think it's an ambitious work - without the ambition coming to the fore. It was about letting myself fall into a particular aesthetic while still remaining varied and appealing over a 35-minute stretch. The string arrangements absolutely took me out of my comfort zone. I can't read music and I'm very proud that I was able to reproduce something that I basically had in my head before. While working, I realized that musical ability has become much more important to me - if it's used in a good way."

Fans of 70s singer/songwriters, especially the first two Nick Drake albums produced by Joe Boyd, will discover a lot here, with the early folk-heavy material of Belle and Sebastian also an obvious reference. The title track is also reminiscent of the spirit and simplicity of Chet Baker's "I Get Along Without You Very Well".

With the album "Has It Been A While?", Trust Fund is finally back for real. It follows the sporadic single track releases in 2022 and 2023, including "Late Nite Skate", which quickly became one of Trust Fund's most successful songs. Trust Fund have also returned to the stage live as a duo consisting of Ellis Jones and Celia Macdougall. If you missed the sold-out concert at London's George Tavern and the support shows for Mitski's European tour in October 2023, you can rejoice, because Trust Fund will be touring the UK and Europe with "Has It Been A While?" in their luggage from late 2024 to early 2025.