Neu Farewell J.R.: ‘All I Wanted Was To Be Honest’

Harking from the bucolic fens of Cambridge, Farewell J.R – the alter-ego of Nick Rayner – spins a web of brittle, glasslike post-folk which flutters in the same circles as Bon Iver, Field Music and similar ilk. Rayner grew up with a passion for music, learning the violin from age 7 and guitar at 11, always striving in vain to find something that, as he puts it, “gave [him] the same feeling, or fulfilment as music.” After a fruitless search, and being influenced by his brother’s garage/punk collection, “’80s pop/R&B, country, folk and classical”, and “everything I have ever heard, seen, felt”, Rayner donned his Farewell J.R hat and, as they say, the rest is history.

DIY’s streaming an exclusive play of the beautiful ‘Held By A Shiver’. Listen below and read Laurence Day’s interview with Nick Rayner to find out the inspiration behind his new EP.



When did you decide you wanted to pursue music as more than a pastime? How did you get into it?
I guess from when I was younger I made some kind of decision that I wanted to make music. Though I don’t think at the time I had any idea what that really meant, I think I just thought it’d be pretty fun you know. However, as I grew up I started to realise that few things really gave me the same feeling, or fulfilment as music. 

Have you always been musical?
As far back as I can remember music has been a huge part of my life. I grew up being exposed to lots of different music ranging for 80s pop/r&b to country, folk, classical, then my brother introduced me to rock/punk/grunge and then the 90s in general. I learnt classical violin from around 7 until I started learning guitar when I was 11 or so. From there I just got so into learning as many instruments as possible and creating music.

What was the first record you bought, and the last record you bought? Do you know any acts from Cambridge you’d recommend?
Honestly I can’t remember. I wish I could say it was something cool, but I’m pretty sure it would’ve been something super embarrassing. The last record I bought was a Sufjan Stevens EP called ‘All Delighted People’. He knows how to do an EP, it’s a double 12”, and it’s rad. 

How do you feel your sound has evolved since ‘Health’? What can we expect ‘And Still…’ to have that’s new or different?
When I began writing ‘Health’ it was really just myself. I had no intentions with no expectations. I was writing for catharsis. I was still exploring new territory for myself in those songs. All I wanted was to be honest. With ‘And Still…’ I wanted to retain those aspects but build off and expand the landscape, broaden the musical view, incorporate more instrumentation & melody into the songs but keep a simple nature. 

What did you take away from the process of creating ‘Health’ and how have you incorporated that into ‘And Still…’? What’s the biggest lesson you’re learned this time round?
‘Health’ and ‘And Still… ’ both were recorded by flying to Ireland for drums and percussions, then flying back to Cambridge to work on the music on my own. It’s definitely a strange way of doing it. I think the biggest thing I learnt this time is that recording that way isn’t exactly how I want to do it. I love working on my own, but I think working so far away from the other musicians with only a little time slows the process down, and probably hinders it.

What’s the best studio anecdote that you have from the experience?
In West Cork where we were recording the drums we started in the studio one day, we were a week or so in so we’d gotten through a few songs by now. We were going through the pre production of the drums for a quite delicate song, and I was in the control room talking to Sam and Josh on the drums. Now West Cork is pretty country, and of all days this day was some kind of country festival for farmers. Which was fine, they were throwing boots, wrapping hay, showing off tractors, the usual but they had this kid out there with a mandolin, singing traditional folk songs through an unnecessarily large PA system, one that could resonate through the oceans. Every time the song would come to a quieter moment, this high pitched, unintelligible wail would creep in through the mics. For a while I genuinely thought we could work with it, I figured ‘hey maybe I can turn this into some sort of lonely atmospheric part, stumbling through the song’ but no, it was pretty weird and went on relentlessly for hours. In the end we gave up, took the day off and went to the beach listening to a bunch of Buddy Holly demos.

Your music, to me, is focused on texture and dynamics and structure. Why are these important aspects to you? Is it a conscious focus or just a by-product of your natural composition process?
I think it’s a bit of both. The most important thing to me is to try create imagery with both words & music. I never seem to sit down to push a direction with the production or songs. Whenever I do, it feels like pushing against a skyscraper. As soon as I lean off, the whole thing just seems to fall into place organically. 

Do you have a ‘process’ or a ritual for writing songs? Or is it much more random?
I write something almost everyday. Sometimes it can be a fully conceived idea, and other days it is just a 30 second ramble into the nearest mic. I find I have a few angles on writing music. There is this side where I am just making music because it is there, not because I am trying to. Predominantly the best ideas I write come really late at night. It’s cliched among musicians, and creative types I know, but it’s usually when I am exhausted from trying to write music all day and I’m giving up, or I have been too busy to even think about making music, and in those moments of abstract thought come ideas. This is when I am making music to help myself, this is when it is for me and no-one else. I genuinely feel lighter for doing so. Then there is another side where I now have an idea in this pure form which I then get to create music around. I guess it’s more; I write songs because it helps me, and I write music around them because I love the creation.

How did you write and record ‘And Still…’?
A little while after ‘Health’ was released, we finished up a few tours, then I was home. I had been working on the recordings, release, shows, everything in between, and working a few different jobs hectically for about 6-8 months. Once that was all done I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself. I think I spent the first month or so trying to figure out what came next. I worked through an unwelcome block for a short while, I had all these ideas about what I wanted to do, but it took some time to focus them. I wrote maybe 30 or 40 ideas, which turned into about 15 songs, which I then demoed about 10 of. I flew to Ireland to record the drums, and the bass with my band, and then it became 8 songs. When I got home I reviewed what we had done and what I was going to do, but I pretty much went straight out for a short solo tour before I had the chance to do anything, so I had this weird gap between starting the recordings and coming home to finish them.

‘Held By A Shiver ‘was sort of the defining factor for the EP. Immediately after finishing it, the whole thing made sense to me. I knew exactly which songs were going to work. I wrote it right before leaving for a short solo tour, so also after the bulk of the EP recording. I had so little time between coming home from Ireland and going out again, just enough to record it as myself and this piano that I’d just gotten. It’s a really old, beautifully dark sounding piano. It’s so creaky, and flawed but it just seems tonally resonate with me. It wasn’t until I came home from the tour that I got to work on producing that song, and it all came together. From there I just got to work recording the remaining songs, and working with Justin Grounds on the string & horn arrangements.

How about ‘Skin Pieces’ in particular? Does it have a story? Can you remember the moment that inspiration struck?
‘Skin Pieces’ sifted through a few forms before it became what it is now, however the theme has always remained. When I was writing the original idea, which was mostly just the first verse and chorus; I was thinking about giving away part of one’s self and emotion to others, and what is given is forever lost to you. You may retain the original, but it is no longer solely yours.



What should people expect from a Farewell J.R show? How do you hope they feel afterwards?
I hope people feel some sort of connection. Not necessarily to me but to themselves and to others. It’s funny because I guess the music is quite insular in terms of emotion but live with the band those guys are family to me. I feel like at the show it is one of the best places where people can really share the experience with others comparatively to the recordings where I feel it’s enjoyed to it’s fullest when alone. Also reverb.

If you could perform in any location on Earth, where would it be and why?
I’d love to perform in some grand cavern. I think visually it would be a stunning environment for the music. I feel like the chaos that forms naturally would allow for so much creativity in how the music could be presented to you. The acoustics of a cavern however, I have no idea what would happen. I love architecture, and I love grand extravagant places. Alternatively I also really like presenting the music on an intimate stripped down scale. 

Can you tell us what the next project is for you after this EP?
I’ve been beginning to write what I think will become the album. I also really want to create something that can be listened to as one long piece of music that swells throughout interchanging between emotions & ideas. I guess something like a novel. I do love EPs though, I think they’re a great way to put music out and I guess using the book analogy; they’re like my short stories.

Purchase ‘And Still…’ now on iTunes via Talking Shop Records.