I Know I'm Funny Haha. Faye Webster

Having just listened to Black Midi's Cavalcade I can only wonder why would anyone ever want to make a mainstream, so boring album as I Know I'm Funny Haha, except as a token of irony? The contrast is just so huge! All joking aside, Faye Webster does a lot right on her new album, that is instantly pleasing, also in sharp contrast to the aforementioned album.

Faye Webster made her debut on these pages with her single 'Cheers'. To stay within the topic of contrasts, 'Cheers' also is nothing like I expected to hear on the album based on this alternative, mildly rocking song. Still nothing is keeping me from writing on it.

Faye Webster is only 23 and already the world sees her fourth album release. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, she decided to work with producer Drew Vandenberg, family names do not come more Dutch, and together put together a band. It resulted in a tremendously relaxed album that ought to resonate with fans of a few of the recent female singers coming out of New Zealand in the past year and multiple U.S. singers. With one "bad-ass track" as she calls it herself, 'Cheers'. It does make me wonder, that when she likes it this much, why not have more songs like it on the record?

As I said I was taken fully by surprise by the relaxed and laidback, almost jazzy songs on I Know I'm Funny Haha. Uniformity is a danger to the album, by the time I'm moving into the final songs. Before that moment there's more than enough to enjoy. The songs are intricate little musical wonders creeping into my ears to tickle them and stick around there easily.

Let's move back to the opening song, 'Better Distractions'. The clear drumming, the pedal steel's intro, the broad sound of the mix, allows for Faye Webster's voice to cut straight through the middle and grab me. The slow rhythm is of the kind that grabs me, telling me to pay attention. The slow singing, Webster simply takes her time to deliver her vocals, adds to the relaxed mood. The long notes on the pedal steel do the rest, allowing the piano to play some languorous solo notes over the song's structure offered by the bass and drums. Partly I have the impression to be back in the late 70s, with musicians like Christopher Cross and Joni Mitchell.

This is the mood of the album until song number 7, 'Cheers'. Song 8 holds some elements of an alternative rock ballad. The return to form, for this album, in song number 9, is slightly disappointing. I have already had six songs in this style and the break promised just a little more than I receive. It does take a little away from the album as a whole for me. The first 8 songs certainly landed extremely well.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order I Know I'm Funny Haha here:

https://fayewebster.bandcamp.com/album/i-know-im-funny-haha

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g