Piers Faccini – Shapes of the Fall
Nø Førmat/Beating Drum – 2 April 2021
The promise of a new release from British-Italian artist Piers Faccini has proven, over a career which has now eclipsed some 20 years, to generate more than a frisson of anticipation and excitement from those familiar with his oeuvre. His latest studio album, Shapes Of The Fall, will certainly not disappoint.
Over these two decades, this enigmatic songwriter has succeeded admirably in producing music that truly reflects the fusion of the diverse cultures and mores of southern Europe, Africa and the Near East which for many generations have melded together and influenced the sounds emanating from the Mediterranean shores. His collaborations with artists such as French-Lebanese jazz trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, Malian songwriter and guitarist Rokia Traoré, Ballake Sissoko, the Malian kora player, and the Iranian violinist and composer Jasser Haj Youssef, reflect his desire to explore and exploit, in the creative sense, cross-cultural imperatives, a broker of traditional music from around the world.
A long time resident of an old farmhouse in the Cévennes mountain region of France, he and his family are surrounded by the beauty of nature, a source of inspiration and influence for his writing. Previous work attest to his concern for the earth, and with Shapes Of The Fall this unease is taken to a new level.
As he explains, “The fall is what we’re already living through, there is a kind of collapse happening already. And alongside that, I wanted to play around with the myth of the Garden of Eden, as if it were today.” The exhaustion of the planet’s resources and ongoing environmental catastrophes and loss of bio-diversity evidenced first-hand in his witnessing trees dying and birds disappearing within his locality leads him to pessimistically question man’s relationship with his environment whilst ruminating upon any possible resolutions. Thus hope and desperation, destruction and rehabilitation are parallel dichotomies that run like threads through the album.
Musically, the release is steeped in southern Italian, Arabic Maqam and Andalusian rhythms and modes which reflect not only his own Mediterranean ancestry but also other traditions from across the narrow Mediterranean straits, all with a healthy element of folk-blues added to the mix. His exploration of tarantismo, a trance and dance ritual from Puglia, (arachnophobes beware), sits alongside his consideration of existing trance traditions from the Maghreb, and in Berber and Gnawa culture. This exposition of the microtonal mode, characteristic of Middle Eastern music, is realised not only through vocal delivery but by the judicious use of apposite instruments played by expert musicians.
Algerian friend, master-musician and specialist in Gnawa music, Malik Ziad, with whom he has worked for the past five years, plays oud and mandola, and following his recommendation to Piers, his brother Karim¸ a master drummer and percussionist, was also brought on-board. in addition to having written all the songs, Piers is also co-producer of the record along with Fred Soulard, and he plays guitar, harmonica and his hybrid fretless guitar-oud, designed and made by luthier Michel Cassan, which enables him to experiment with musical modes that come from Turkish or Arabic music as well as playing riffs that come more from the blues. Other artists involved include Italian drummer Simone Prattico, a string quartet arranged by Luc Suarez and two guests whose stellar contribution is outlined below.
Opener, They Will Gather No Seed, is a wonderfully constructed song. Musically, from sparse guitar notes simply plucked, finger snaps and simple piano bass notes, the intensity builds, almost imperceptibly, as the string quartet subtly weave their spell. Lyrically, the narrative of the album immediately points to the prospect of the fall outlined above. In explanation, Faccini has said “I tried to imagine voices, like the voices of animals, but also the voices of trees, of leaves, of branches and roots of the earth, and the mineral world also”, thus if shapes of the fall are indeed the endangered species that constitute the complex patchwork of our disintegrating and fragile world, the descent is both of our making and within our powers to reverse,
They’ll gather no seed
They’ll break no bread
They’ll gather no seed
But a hunger instead
However, the plaintive line ‘Bring me my home back’, repeated chorus-like, is not the singer’s personal cry, but that of a bird, used figuratively as a lament to represent all species on the brink of extinction.
Foghorn Calling, one of the singles culled from the album, (featured in Folk Radio here), features Malik’s expertise on the guembri or sintir, a unique Gnawa instrument that is at one and the same time both stringed and percussive, and which here acts as the driving spine throughout the track. Piers’s plaintive lyrics again utilise the language of imagery. The metaphorical foghorn sounds the haunting warning of Earth’s potential catastrophic environmental collapse, and the devastating loss of biodiversity. The dichotomy posed is will the call be heeded in time and mankind guided to a safe haven or ignored and lost at sea? His thoughts, judging by the words of the final stanza, appear to lie in Camp Hope
‘Where there’s a will there’s a wanting
A hand to hope
A hope to hold
To drag forth the darkness from you’
The ethereal Dunya, the opening and closing lyrics of which are delivered in Arabic, is so atmospheric that it proves difficult not to imagine being transported to a more celestial location, a similar effect also being achieved with the mystical Levante.
Comparisons have been made elsewhere suggesting that Piers sounds like a modern-day Nick Drake. It has to be said that Together Forever Everywhere would support this assertion, both in terms of vocal delivery and song structure. With the strings judged to absolute perfection, this is a sublime song. In a similar vein, The Real Way Out is 2minutes 40 seconds of pure elegance.
Perhaps the most interesting track on the album, admittedly a difficult choice given that they are all so absorbing, and certainly no disrespect here is meant towards Piers, is All Aboard, the one track featuring two special guests, his Californian friend Ben Harper and the Moroccan master of Gnawa music and tradition, Abdelkebir Merchane. Composed with Malik, the lyrics and narrative flow from an initial two-word call and response refrain all aboard. Inspired by trance rhythms, in many ways this song returns the album to the optimism and light of the opening track as “these rhythms help us heal, to go from darkness and fear to hope and light.”
He uses the Noah & The Ark story to draw a parallel with today’s environmental crisis, with survivors of an environmental collapse getting aboard a makeshift boat and heading for the Poles, the only places cool enough to live on.
However, as he explains, ” But I also wrote the song as a kind of parody, to highlight the absurdity of humanity’s inaction in the face of impending catastrophe. We’d rather let our home and planet and our very own paradise burn in front of us instead of just getting on board a green new narrative and all aboard a way to avoid that apocalyptic scenario. In addition to Ben’s guitar, the song features two instruments from the Maghreb, the aouisha played by Malik and, once again, the guembri Karim, as well as the metal hand percussion, the large metal castanets known as karkabous. One minute 49 seconds in sees a dramatic key change as Merchane’s vocals take centre stage as, in Arabic, possibly Chamrahouche, he asks the Gnawa saint or djinn, El Fqih for blessing and healing. An utterly compelling track, it was Piers’s wish that the song creates a conversation between himself, Ben and Abdelkebir, to these ears he has succeeded admirably, forging a perfect fusion of voices and instruments.
All songs mentioned thus far, in line with those not highlighted, share certain commonalities. His lyrics display a genuine honesty and integrity and the overall sonic picture has produced a rich, magical, enveloping atmosphere throughout. Underlying the entire album is a rhythmic feel that is rarely experienced, and a testament to his attention to detail in this respect. The role that the percussion plays is worthy of an isolated listen or three on its own, in addition to those instruments already outlined, we hear frame drums, bendir and tamburello and syncopated handclaps, all used to dramatic effect.
In Shapes Of The Fall Piers Faccini has created a masterpiece – cerebral, thought-provoking, but above all, musically, an intensely enjoyable listening experience. On the very first airing, a tremendous immediacy and dynamism is apparent, but repeated plays are highly recommended, revealing as they do fresh nuances and subtleties with every repeated listen.
Order via Bandcamp: https://piersfaccini.bandcamp.com/album/shapes-of-the-fall