Has It Been A While?

Between 2011 and 2018, songwriter/vocalist Ellis Jones used the name Trust Fund for his band that prolifically made upbeat, lo-fi indie pop in the vein of Los Campesinos!, Radiator Hospital, or the Sarah Records camp. Trust Fund made several EPs and four albums in this style before breaking up around the time of their 2018 record Bringing the Backline. Jones re-emerged as Trust Fund once more in 2022, but this time the sound was wildly different. Has It Been a While? is the first evidence of Trust Funds second act, and fans of their peppy, self-effacing indie pop might be surprised to hear a new albums worth of gentle, drumless, autumnal chamber folk. Its a bold choice to reactivate the Trust Fund name and present music that sounds worlds apart from what the band is known for, but Jones pulls it off without blinking, offering up this set of gorgeous chamber pop tunes to be taken on their own merits. The first and most obvious reference point for Has It Been a While? are the earliest Nick Drake albums, as Jones fingerpicked acoustic guitars and glimmering string instrumentations sound like meticulous studies of those albums more than simple points of inspiration. In particular, the orchestral pop of "The Hinterland" or "The Mirror" (a duet with Radiant Hearts Celia MacDougall) feel like knowing hat-tips to the melancholic atmospheres of Five Leaves Left or Bryter Layter. A notable part of this sharp left turn is how Jones vocals, once ragged and exclamatory on earlier Trust Fund material, are now hushed and quietly controlled with the same subtle power Drake was so good at. Its not just a Nick Drake tribute, however, as songs like "Curtis" recall the naive charm of Tigermilk-era Belle & Sebastian, "In the Air" has the misty beauty of Colin Blunstones post-Zombies quasi-bossa nova style, and especially folksy tunes bring in some of the rustic charm of Karen Dalton or Jackson C. Frank. By the time the album gets to its penultimate title track, all of these gentle influences blur together into a record thats graceful and reserved, a little bit lonely, but all the better for it. ~ Fred Thomas