Premiere: Jacob Faurholt bleeds for the ‘Sad People’ on new EP
Folk-pop carver utilizes love of horror songs about love with his brand new EP.
The visceral appeal of horror cinema lies in our bizarrely unquenchable thirst to experience both tragedy and eventual triumph ⏤ vicariously, of course. Through the lens of such iconic characters as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s Halloween, Jess Bradford in Black Christmas and Adelaide Wilson in this year’s blockbuster Us (from new visionary Jordan Peele), we inhabit a terrifying world from the comfort of cushioned upholstery. Out of Denmark, lo-fi folk-pop noise-maker Jacob Faurholt (also of experimental group Crystal Shipsss) employs his love of scary stories as the bedrock for the expressive opening track to his brand new EP, Sad People, premiering in-full today.
“I love the horror / The horror movies the horror shows / The horror of every single blow to my skull,” he unfolds with “The Horror,” connecting the dots between the blood-soaked silver screen and a relationship weathering the storm. The frayed heartstrings then become woven as tapestry together with three other songs, from the dripping melancholy of the title song (“Sad people are sad people / Because they are sad people,” he casts a never-ending shadow across the continents and oceans with relentless misery) to “Halloween Pumpkin,” another spooky pillar directly calling to ghoulish imagery as a lovesick storybook. “This is a scary place / Not least tonight / Lay down lady / Lay down your head and cry,” he urges, as fuzzy guitars bust out through the speakers to pummel the eardrums.
“Set Me Free,” a static-in-the-machine bookend, is an intimately-wrought gospel spinner. Though his acoustic guitar and echoing vocal cords, often feeling shockingly detached and distant, Faurholt seeks out warmth in the fire of jealousy and a redemption he has long forgotten or been too numb to see. His heart has waxed cold and brittle, but the song reignites a beastly growl from deep within his stomach, permitting him to flutter as smoke through the low-hanging branches and into a starry soundscape.
Sad People EP, mastered by Canadian producer Andy Magoffin(Great Lake Swimmers, Royal City), was recorded fully in Faurholt’s home studio in Aarhus, Denmark. And with such a humble setup, the music carries with it a stunning beauty and skin-grazing intensity. Through 10 previous releases, solo and with the band, Faurholt’s voice is nearly always penetrating, and paired with such poetic simplicity as found here, grounding the music further into the watery depths of the human soul, he gifts the listener with treasures and insight to endure a lifetime.
Listen below and gain insight on each vital cut:
“The Horror”
In the beginning, the song had an outro. But I decided to cut it short and end it with the sound of an answering machine. Some of the melody is inspired from listening to “Ohio River Boat Song” by Will Oldham’s Palace Music. Love & theft, right?
“Sad People”
I thought the repeating of “sad people” in the verse sounded nice, and it reminded me of the songs from Marty Anderson’s project Okay. He made an album called ‘Huggable Dust,’ which is absolutely amazing. It was released be the now-defunct label Absolutely Kosher.
“Halloween Pumpkin”
This one is a slow-burning folk ballad with imagery inspired from my love for the horror-genre. It’s also a love song.
“Set Me Free”
This song was my attempt on writing a kinda folky gospel song. If I remember correctly, the inspiration came from listening to some of the quieter songs of [rock band] Spiritualized. At first, I thought it would be cool to go all the way, and record with an actual gospel choir. But I ended up doing it as a rough first take song on my own.
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