Faded Circus is the alter-ego of West Midlands musician Paul Jones. Seemingly not content with creating a delightful album of easy-going folk sounds, Jones has also coined a hugely enviable title for this project. You can’t be fooled by the title but it ought to entice you.
Immediately notable is the effeminate whisper in which Jones sings. Far from being a put-off, the fact that Jones’s voice has breezy qualities can only stand to serve him well. Songs such as “No care For Breaks” capture this point at its finest.
Nature would appear to play its part in Jones’s songwriting, and the general ambience that surrounds each song would suggest that the man is fond of the great outdoors. “In the Teeth of Winter” and opening track “Bumblebee Lament” stand as enjoyable proof.
Throughout, instrumentation is kept to a bare minimum. Not only is the album decidedly better off for being so stripped-down but Jones stays true to the “organic” themes that are qualified in his sound. One has to believe that excessive digital input would not only have polluted Jones’s songs but would also have compromised the album’s integrity as a whole.
“The Winner’s Way” shows the inquisitive, searching qualities that exist in Jones’s songwriting while also being quite the upbeat summery tune and, while “Ombudsman” seems at first a strange title for a flowery-folk song, there’s little to question as far as music and lyrics are concerned. There’s a lot to like about this album, and, unlike most, it only improves with each listen. Perhaps best of all, this album comes across as a positively unforced work by a talented young lad. Not only really good but genuine, too. Highly recommended.