We met with Jacob Johnson of the trio Son of John to discuss their wonderful new Each Second Footstep album (reviewed here), which showcases a broad and exciting new musical direction, plus the cementing of his new band lineup.
As we mentioned in the review of Son of John’s new Each Second Footstep album, the band’s set-up has grown from solo to duo to trio since the release of their debut Autumn Hymn in 2016. It’s been a busy time for Jacob Johnson, who now fronts the band instead of going it alone, playing with a core unit of John Parker on double bass and Jack Walker on drums. “I ended up meeting up with John a couple of years after the first album was made and toured,” Jacob begins. “We released a little EP together, Live at Fieldgate, which was very stripped down. I wanted that one to capture the live environment of us bouncing off each other, which was really nice. After spending years playing mainly on my own, I realised how rewarding it is playing with others.”
The recruitment of both John and then Jack Walker meant a change in sound for Son of John, after the traditional sounding Autumn Hymn, with both additions having a background in jazz. This detail can be heard throughout Each Second Footstep, resulting in an album significantly different in style from its predecessor. “I met Jack in Birmingham, and he asked if I wanted some drums on there,” Jacob explains. “I wasn’t sure it would work before we tried it out, but it takes you down other avenues, and you use their inspirations and where they’ve come from too. Jack is jazz trained, but he also likes modern music and hip-hop, and it’s nice to have that range of styles to weave into the songs, rather than just mine.” Songs like the traditional blues number John the Revelator and original The Waves from Each Second Footstep fully demonstrate the new diversity offered by the band. Still, the same could be said of any of the songs. The sound is not just sonically expanded, but intellectually so, with adventurous touches and those musical influences from the other two band members creating depth and colour. “John loves jazz too,” Jacob continues. “He’s a [Charles] Mingus and Edgar Meyer fan and had lessons from Danny Thompson, who was informed a lot by jazz earlier in his career. I like the idea of it because it’s never fixed; it can change every night, and sometimes it’s great, but others, it might not be. It’s quite fun with that risk and a bit more improvisation.”
Jacob has had less involvement than the others with jazz, his background being rooted in folk and blues guitar players and alternate tunings, an element that is less obviously prominent on the new album but still an integral part of the bedrock of the sound. “You just have to make more room,” he says. “The more intricate you get, the less space there is; I was really enjoying performing with the others, but sometimes it can sound too crowded, so I might pull back a little bit, and they can interject, and we can blend into more of a band. But the guitar is still central to the writing process. It’s a writing tool, and that’ll never change, but sometimes I’ll come up with really intricate parts and then try to sing over them, and it just won’t work. I’m not at the standard of Martin Simpson,” he laughs. “I can’t do that, and I’ve enjoyed making room for the others and thinking about what the song needs. Does it need a long guitar solo? Maybe not.”
There is a good variety of music across Each Second Footstep, a feature Jacob has noted in the work of some of his influences, including José González and Martin Simpson, plus one major figure. “Maybe it’s obvious, but a huge influence on me is John Martyn,” he smiles. “Thinking about his Solid Air record, there’s lots of varieties of songs on there; Solid Air is nothing like May you Never, which is nothing like Don’t Want to Know. They’re all really different sonically, but they’re all still John Martyn. There’s levels of his influence on the record, but I think what I wanted to achieve was to have all of my influences in there somewhere.” Also notable is the balance heard across the album, which was recorded as a trio for the most part, with embellishments added later. “Yeah, it was pretty much recorded live, and then we’d go over them afterwards with vocals and stuff,” Jacob explains. “I like it because the songs tend to then move and shift a bit; those great records of the sixties and seventies would do that. They’d do as many takes as they could and pick the best one. There’s something about capturing a sound live; it’s not top production, but that’s not the point because you can capture something more.” Of course, though, the album is far more than a trio recording, with the additional arrangements, particularly from Kate St John’s strings, adding much texture and character to the songs while keeping space in the sound. “A lot of the stuff I like to listen to is quite minimalistic,” Jacob says after a pause. “But I do think that songs need to ebb and flow and perhaps crescendo. The Waves’ crescendo is quite big, but you have to work from somewhere; you can’t start at a hundred percent. It’s hard to get right and sometimes I’ll be in there and I’ll think we’ll try oboe and see what happens. You need to know what the song needs and when it’s enough, but it’s a fun part of it all and I hope it benefits the music.”
As mentioned in the album review, Each Second Footstep is an essential release.
It’s out on 22 July 2022; you can pre-order Each Second Footstep via Bandcamp: https://sonofjohnfolk.bandcamp.com/releases
More here: https://www.sonofjohnfolk.com/