Bill Fay inches inexorably toward the release of a new album Countless Branches on Dead Oceans

Bill Fay inches inexorably toward the release of a new album Countless Branches on Dead Oceans
Photo: Mathew Parri Thomas

You know, the best things usually happen in their own time and place. For instance, fifty years after he first tiptoed a toe’s tip onto the British experimental folk scene, the ever-elliptical and enigmatic Bill Fay is returning (at his own damn pace, thank you very much) with a new album.

The legend’s latest (and third release since resurfacing back in 2012) is entitled Countless Branches, and it’ll will be released January 17 via Dead Oceans on CD, LP and Deluxe 2xLP sets. On it, Fay “collects compositions drawn from the trove of material [he] has amassed over 40 years,” adding “newly written words and melodies” to previously unfinished songs.

Alongside the announcement, Fay has unveiled a Emily Scaife-directed video for the album’s first single “Filled With Wonder Once Again.” Commenting on the clip’s creation, Scaife explains: “I wanted to create a dreamy, warm world that melted reality into abstraction and filled the audience with wonder, while conveying themes of cycles/phases — both of the tree (inspired by Bill’s Countless Branches) as well as the planet more generally. I combined several techniques: hand-drawing shapes and parents in nature; animal skins, organic textures, and coloured gels and slides on overhead projectors to produce soft dappled washes of light.”

But whoa, whoa, whoa. Just take it easy. Sure, you can watch the clip for “Filled With Wonder” down below and pre-order Countless Branches here from Dead Oceans. But there’s really no need to HURRY. Relax. Take a few breaths first. Slow and steady wins the race, you know.


Countless Branches’ countable tracklist:

01. In Human Hands
02. How Long, How Long
03. Your Little Face
04. Salt Of The Earth
05. I Will Remain Here
06. Filled With Wonder Once Again
07. Time’s Going Somewhere
08. Love Will Remain
09. Countless Branches
10. One Life
11. Tiny - Bonus Track
12. Don’t Let My Marigolds Die (Live in Studio) - Bonus Track
13. The Rooster - Bonus Track
14. Your Little Face (Acoustic Version) - Bonus Track
15. Filled With Wonder Once Again (Band Version) - Bonus Track
16. How Long, How Long (Band Version) - Bonus Track
17. Love Will Remain (Band Version) - Bonus Track

Most Read



Etc.