Simon J Jones likes to do things differently, and the multi-instrumentalist does not disappoint in this new video exclusive for Folk Radio UK.
Jones, who is best known as one-third of the award-winning trio Harp & a Monkey, has chosen to present the story of the founder of electricity, Michael Faraday, with nothing more than the most organic of tools – the human voice.
“To be honest, I didn’t really consider the anomaly of the organic approach until I’d finished, as it just felt like the right way to present this particular narrative,” laughs Jones. “I was far more concerned about taking on an acapella song, as it is not something I would normally be brave enough to do!”
He continues: “What I was really focused on was the idea of making it sound like the kind of song that primary school children might sing – a delivery that would place the Faraday story somewhere relative and interesting within the wider project that it is a part of.”
The project in question is Jones’s first solo album, ‘How Things Work’ – a collection that celebrates vintage titles by the popular children’s publisher Ladybird.
The Michael Faraday song was inspired by the 1961 Ladybird book ‘Great Inventions’, which tells of some of the great inventions that have shaped the modern world – from the invention of the printing press to the dawn of the atomic age.
“Within that span of inventions is the story of Michael Faraday and birth of electricity,” says Jones. “The words used in the book provide the foundation for the words in the song.”
We reviewed ‘How Things Work’ recently (read it here) and described it as “a delight from start to finish” and a “significant artistic achievement”.
Jones, who is also an international award-winning art photographer and animator, has completed a series of short films to accompany a number of the songs featured on the album, of which Michael Faraday is the latest. Let’s hope there are more!
You can purchase ‘How Things Work’ via Bandcamp: https://simonjohnjones.bandcamp.com/