Like the wonderful Benjamin Shaw here in the UK, observational singer-songwriter Justin Farren has a world view that is as skewed as it is idiosyncratic as it is unassuming.
However, being from across the pond, his is a view coloured by his Californian upbringing and consequently we get 70 second songs about awkward palm trees growing out of concrete, glue guns and anxieties over asphalt burns from sex in a parking lot.
And we get a song warning the people who have stolen from him what a pile of junk they’ve got themselves and how to get the best out of his possessions. A song which somehow comes across like a speed-fuelled Loudon Wainwright III duelling with Arol Guthrie.
The album is Songs From Spare Rooms and while it will never sell millions, it is funny, tender, ironic and wonderful and you should buy it. From Amazon on import here or cdbaby here.
Download Justin Farren – About A Shade Tree mp3 (from Songs From Spare Rooms)
Download Justin Farren – Broken Shit mp3 (from Songs From Spare Rooms)
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