Today, The Ah—solo project of composer and musician Jeremy Gustin (Rubblebucket, Okkervil River, Delicate Steve, Marc Ribot, Albert Hammond Jr, etc)—shared the second single from his forthcoming sophomore full-length Mere Husk.
Following the lead single “Watermelon Tears,” which caught the attention of Paste Magazine (“displaying the happy energy of life”), The New York Times (“a burst of comic relief”) and others,”The Factory Girl” features Gustin’s friend, Yuan Liu, on vocals, who also stars in the track’s accompanying music video. Links below!
On the song, Gustin explains, “‘The Factory Girl’ is based on a traditional Irish song I first heard Margaret Barry sing. When struck by the beauty of the melody and the phrasing, I challenged myself to see what I could do with it to completely change the vibe, but keep the integrity of the melody. As I decided to not have vocals here, the narrative of the original, of course, is lost. But my friend Yuan just happened to be over my place at the moment I was recording this and I asked her to improvise some dialogue, which she did brilliantly. This of course alters the original narrative but keeps the underlying theme of love intact.”
The release of Mere Husk will be celebrated in conjunction with Gustin’s forthcoming photography book Foundscapes (