:: Rory Faithfield - Songs For Sooner

Rory Faithfield

There has been a real parade of talented Aussie male sing/songwriters pumping out albums over the last few years, so it is nice to hear that West Australian Rory Faithfield tries a few different things on his fourth album ‘Songs For Sooner’. When his publicist likens him to Luka Bloom, they really aren’t joking. Faithfield does something unusual in that he splits his time between Western Australia and Dublin… and he actually manages to merge the sounds of the two countries together on this album. Tracks like ‘Big Blue Western Skies’ (found as both a regular and an acoustic version here) are as Aussie sounding as anything Paul Kelly has ever released, while ‘Clonard’ embraces it’s Irish roots and has a true Celtic feel to it. ‘Into The World’ sees Faithfield pull of a heavy blues rock sound while his lyric-writing ability comes to the fore with ‘A Little Light’, which is a charming little love song. ‘Born In Sydney Town’ will certainly appeal to those who call Sydney home while the basic lyrics found on ‘Something Real’ end it up with it becoming catchy-as-all-hell. The same can be said for ‘The One You Need’. ‘Assume The Position’ becomes a stand out due to some beautiful song-writing and it genuinely sounds like poetry, while ‘Sooner Or Later’ is a modern ballad that uses the old-style traditional sounds to come to life… and it works brilliantly. ‘Songs For Sooner’ is a remarkable album that reveals a genuine Aussie talent in the form of Rory Faithfield. Ireland has embraced him, now it’s Australia’s turn.