BY ROBIN MUMFORD OF THE INDIE PLUG
Keiron Farrow is a musician from Northampton currently residing in Kettering. Ask him who he sounds like, he would probably say the illegitimate progeny of Howlin’ Wolf, Jack Rose, Lee Mavers & Charles Mingus, but then, as the artist says himself, he’d probably feel a bit of an idiot. However, we all start somewhere, and Farrow’s beginnings have led him to reach a desired sound.
On May 3rd this year, the Northampton born musician released a brand-new EP called ‘Fast Awake’, which entailed his lead single ‘Next Strain’.
The single itself is as old-school as it gets, with vocals that reflect only the most predominant voices of the 50’s and 60’s, where country and folk was at its apex and the likes of Bob Dylan descended on the popular American music revival. Along with this, the song is fast-paced and brings a certain sense of venom to it, resulting in a sound that remains vastly undiscovered by today’s kids.
Talking of the release, Keiron Farrow said: “It's the most unusual song I've ever written which is why I love it. The basic groove, which I nicked from Slim Harpo, is just samples of me playing for four bars, with vocals and slide guitar over the top. The lyric arrived in full at 5am on a Thursday when I was fast awake. It distills my experiences and some of my feelings about the situation we all currently find ourselves in.”
“I'm proud of the lyric ‘I can't stand to clap my hands' because you can read it two ways. I want to point at the hypocrisy of clapping for the NHS and then slashing their pay; but also, if you have long Covid then maybe you literally can't stand.”
The four track ‘Fast Awake’ EP is awash with classic songwriting. The opening harmonica on first track ‘Another Man’ is an unexpected delight; this is the blues via Northampton. ‘Monkey Shoulders’ is faster paced and has a tremendous groove - the acapella moments changing the dynamic of the song - when the guitar comes back in it makes the listener take note and listen all the more intently. Final track Will & Testament features by now Farrow’s signature guitar tone and a grinding non stop blues riff.
While it was ‘Next Strain’ that promised to attain the most plaudits, there’s plenty more to discover in Farrow’s EP, which is available now.
'Fast Awake' is out now and available on all major streaming platforms.
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