Jon Gomm - The Faintest Idea
Jon Gomm has long been known as a guitar-playing pioneer, using a Michael Hedges-inspired brand of percussive fingerstyle wizardry as the backdrop to his songwriting. While you - yes, you - clock up millions of hours sat on your posterior in front of Netflix, you can be certain that Jon Gomm is putting in the equivalent practising. I suspect he even practises while having a wee, but let’s not linger on how that might work. Anyway, as your teachers always told you, practise pays off and everything about Jon Gomm’s playing is flawless on his latest record, The Faintest Idea. While similarly gifted artists like Newton Faulkner have successfully crossed over into the mainstream, Gomm has gathered his successes more quietly, remaining fiercely independent (this is the first of his albums not to be self-released) and retaining the respect of his peers while still winning thousands of fans around the world.
‘Deep Sea Fishes’ opens the record with the facile repetition of a single tapped note. It’s a tease, of course, as next comes the heavily syncopated drum part, followed by immense, shimmering chords. The tighter, lighter, harmonic-sprinkled groove of the verse is even more intricate, yet still allows Gomm’s breathy, warm vocal to sit on top. Unbelievably, among it all, the knocks, scrapes and thuds pulse with metronomic accuracy. The song’s accompanying video is nothing short of stunning (I found myself shouting at the screen “dude, you’ve still got your eyes shut!”) and the footage ought to be prescribed on the NHS to anyone suffering lockjaw.
The catchy ‘Cocoon’ boasts a tender falsetto - a testament to Gomm’s ability as a singer - and showcases some impressive in-flight tuning, a feature of the seventeen million-times-viewed ‘Passionflower’ from 2011. The busier, playful groove of ‘Dream Factories’ propels an anti-commercialist call to arms, imploring us to “burn the factories down”, while in contrast spacious ‘Tempest’ is freer and lighter. The first of the record’s two exquisite instrumentals, ‘The Ghost Inside You’ is Dominic Milleresque, its laid-back, soulful vibe compensating for the lack of vocal engagement. The piece’s careful arrangement also makes it a more meaningful journey than most five-minute solo guitar workouts.
Of course, there is more to Jon Gomm than just the flash and bang of his staggering technique. There is a fragile emotion behind these songs, revealed in lyrics that tackle universal, existential themes employing both celestial and natural-world imagery. “I have many mental health diagnoses, worn like medals earned in a war against myself”, he says. This open self-awareness is apparent in songs that clearly come from deep within but nonetheless have the potential to speak to universal fears and self-doubt. It’s easy, however, for even the best songwriters to lose themselves in this and teeter into over-earnestness and the record’s second half is not without such missteps. The frankly sinister whisperings and new-age feel of ‘Universal Biology’ will, at nearly seven minutes, strike some as self-indulgent and the meandering funk of ‘Swallow You Whole’, which comes later, similarly outstays its welcome. This exposes a tension that will always curse a musician like Jon Gomm: his limits as a songwriter don’t align with his apparently limitless ability as a guitarist. That said, it is much to Gomm’s credit that the record on the whole retains such a song-centric focus.
Things get back on track with the far more concise ‘Song For A Rainy Day’ - sporting a nifty ‘Green-Tinted Sixties Mind’-inspired riff - and the sweet but lively instrumental ‘Check You’re Still Breathing’ that follows comes over like a hot-rodded Snuffy Walden piece. ‘Butterfly Hurricane’ is blessed with more lyrical mystery and brittle emotion and the refreshingly straightforward pop of ‘Until The Sun Destroys The Earth’ closes the album on a particular high.
Aside from sprinklings of atmospherics, courtesy of Andy Sorenson, The Faintest Idea is wedded to the one-man-and-guitar format. This purist approach lays bare all the intricate glory of Jon Gomm’s mastery of the instrument and, in itself, this is a joy in which to luxuriate; a joy at which most mortals can only marvel; a joy that no-one can deny. At its best, Gomm’s songwriting elevates him way beyond instrumental virtuoso and reveals an artist whose songs are more than capable of connecting emotionally. Not only does this album stand up alongside the best work of artists like Nick Harper and the late, great Eric Roche, it has a genuine spirit and warmth that is all its own. And that, I can assure you, takes a lot more than just practice.
Review by Rich Barnard.
The Faintest Idea is due to be released on 16th October on CD, double gatefold LP with D-side artwork etching, digital and as a stunning limited edition deluxe 3 disc hardback book edition which will feature – CD1 - The Faintest Idea album, CD 2 - The Naked Artist Mix – a stripped back version of the album; a DVD containing 6 exclusive performances filmed in a medieval church, guitar technique presentations, a 35 minute Jon Gomm interview, song description videos and The Faintest Idea in high resolution stereo audio. The beautiful book will feature Lee Zimmerman illustrations, song descriptions, handwritten lyrics and full guitar tablature for the song “Check You’re Still Breathing”. All formats are available to pre-order HERE (https://jongomm.lnk.to/TheFaintestIdea)
One of the positive aspects of running Red Guitar Music is that you encounter all manner of different musical genres that you wouldn’t necessarily find on your own. The RGM Inbox is positively overflowing with the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly (although something we find unlistenable is probably the best thing in the world to someone). One example that falls squarely in the good category of pleasant surprises is The Happy Couple, discovered on a recent visit to London’s Green Note, where the duo opened for Dimple Discs labelmate Kelsey Michael.