Jacob Faurholt is a songwriter from Copenhagen. Over the last ten years he has made a name for himself with both solo albums and with the project Crystal Shipsss. His latest release, Super Glue, is the first that he has recorded with the benefits of a professional studio. He enlisted the help of Brian Batz, better known as his recording project Sleep Party People, who plays on all ten tracks and took over all production and mixing duties. This lends a decidedly atmospheric vibe to the record, comparable to 90s indie rock pioneers such as Sparklehorse and Grandaddy. There is also a good stylistic range, with everything from heartfelt ballads to noisy rock songs.
Super Glue is essentially a record about a split, written and recorded in the aftermath of a nine year relationship. As Faurholt explains in the blurb:
”Super Glue is basically a break up album. It’s a record that deals with the emotions that follow, when you have to say goodbye to a person you have shared a big part of your life with. But it’s also a record that comes to terms with the madness and points forward.”
Opener ‘Floating in Space’ sets the tone of the album. It’s a bold and confident indie rock song, with a constant thudding drum beat, but sounds steeped in melancholy too, Faurholt’s vocals dripping with a wistful regret. This is a continuing theme across Super Glue. Take for example the sweetly ‘Guided By Voices’, ‘On Top’ with lines such as “It’s not a hollow life / but goddamn it’s lonely not having you by my side”, and ‘Pictures of You’ which sees Faurholt wishing his ex-partner a happy life and highlights the frightening helplessness and uncertainty of the situation, “I see a light at the end / God I hope it’s a friend”. And of course there’s a track called ‘Sad World’, which I’m sure you can imagine isn’t exactly a sunny pop song.
But there is also hope on the album, such as on the title track with its repeated refrain of:
“Sun don’t visit me
unless you feel the need
to make warm and strong
make me believe in myself and the power of love”
There is hope too on ‘Stars’, which has a vague sense of acceptance, of purpose, the big beating kick drum feeling like the first steady steps forward Faurholt has taken in a long time. The first single, ‘Future Wife’, also has this feeling. Bringing to mind Yo La Tengo in the way it uses indie pop to create a sense other than simply sunny good times, it’s a song about how the narrator plans to use his current heartache to make himself better for somebody else
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The closer ‘One Last Goodbye’ is a strangely triumphant ending. The problems are not forgotten, but this is the sound of Faurholt coming to terms with them, of one final cathartic farewell to the past and certain people in it. It’s evidence of the fact that no matter how bad things can appear at a certain point in time, there is always hope of regrowth. If you can weather the storm and just hold on, there are calmer shores ahead, waiting to be sailed into. Judging by the end of this record, I think Faurholt is doing just that.
You can pre-order Super Glue on limited edition vinyl, CD or digital download via the Jacob Faurholt Bandcamp page.
