Jerskin Fendrix will release a new album called Once Upon A Time… In Shropshire on 10 October through Untitled (Recs).
The album’s title nods to his recent Hollywood exploits, having scored Yorgos Lanthimos’ films Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and the forthcoming Bugonia. It is, however, his first ‘pop’ album since 2020’s Winterreise and Fendrix reveals:
“I wrote this album during a period of sudden and unrelated deaths. A friend, family members, animals, and eventually my father. My album about Shropshire is a twofold testament, looking back on the world where I grew up, its beauty and innocence and wonder – then watching it become corrupted, death by death, until the entire dream was shattered.”
We’ve already heard “Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle” and “SK1” from the record, but new single (and album opener) “Beth’s Farm” is the first to really tap into those themes of innocence, wonder and fatality. Over a synthesized and off-kilter vocal arrangement, he uses previously unheard pathos in his voice to recall vivid memories of a youth spent on the titular farm learning about the world through young romances, music and the natural world around him. The song remains in this delicately charming space through its first half, before Fendrix augments it with ornamental string arrangements that add to the sharpness and shine of the memories – and an edge to the adult fears that peek through in lines like “nobody dies on Beth’s Farm”. Overall, the song fuses Jerskin Fendrix the pop maverick with Jerskin Fendrix the cinematic composer and finds a middle ground where we see his truest self to date.
Listen to “Beth’s Farm” below or find it on streamers.
Jerskin Fendrix’s new album Once Upon A Time… In Shropshire arrives on 10 October via untitled (recs) (pre-order/save). You can find him on Instagram.
