Fairweather Friends- Where the River Flows | Single Review

Words By Craig Carrington-Porter

What a joy to wake up on a Saturday and not have to rush anywhere, to not really do anything and to just spend the day doing what I want.

Eating two bowls of cereal-one after the other- while watching Netflix seemed to be the justifiable way to spend the weekend. Beginning to hate myself for being lazy I quickly washed, scrubbed (myself) and then cleaned my room like the good boy I am. Putting Lidil southern fried chicken in the oven and setting the timer to 45 minutes. I suddenly created a challenge for myself.

Could I write a review before the chicken is cooked?

Fairweather Friends is a local Glasgow band or better yet, a duo creating contemporary, quite soothing folk music but not the traditional kind about farming and the land. They’re more, Garfunkel cheated Simon about who wrote what, kind of folk music.

The duo released their new single Where the River Flows on the 8th of May. Between the two of them they have released quite a fair bit of their catalogue. I would certainly say that this track has a more relaxed and laid back approach compared to their other tracks Making Ends Meet or I Don’t Want To Know.

The track begins with piano and ends the same way. In between there is a layering of vocals, strings and lightly strummed guitars. The main strength for Fairweather Friends is their ability to sing with one another and not flush the other one out. On top of that, they don’t try and pull off silly harmonies or be show off-y. They keep it attractively tamed and deliver a nostalgic sentimentally to their lyrics.

The accompaniment of the strings, I believe it might just be a cello with the piano is obviously a winning combination. At moments the stringed instrument imitates the vocals following their wavering of tones and pitches.

At this point the oven timer goes off and I have lost the challenge. Granted I spent the first 15 minutes scrolling through Facebook but I take the chicken out and eat.

Returning to my laptop, having listened to the song while I ate I thought of how to summarise this review. I think what I like about this new song from Fairweather Friends is that they have the ability to apply a decree of maturity to their song writing but not make it drab and grounding in its tone. Truthfully, I wouldn’t add this to my party playlist but its not that kind of song. Instead I would add it to ‘My Life’ playlist because ‘Where The River Flows’ is a song for me and for you to enjoy for yourself.

Its for that solo car drive/train journey/cycle/walk that you take, to travel to somewhere isolated and have a breather.

It also reminds me of The Milk Carton Kids. And I like them a lot.

Anyway, stay sexy and be safe. Each weeks gets us all closer to hanging out again.