Massy Ferguson returns with the new single ‘So Long, Carry On‘, which features guest vocals from folk roots singer Zan Fiskum, known for her work on Season 18 of NBC’s The Voice. It’s the title track of a 3-song EP which itself is acting as a taster for a new album ‘You Can’t Tell Me I’m Not What I Used to Be’ which will be released towards the end of this year (Christmas Market anyone?) or possibly early 2025.The original genesis of the song came from an idea singer Ethan Anderson and guitar player Adam Monda started riffing on in the backroom of Asbury Park’s longstanding legendary venue The Saint while the band was on tour on the East Coast in 2022. The tour itself was cancelled soon after Asbury Park when half of the band got Covid, but the song sketch would serve as the inspiration and jump start for a new batch of ideas. It was a “So Long Carry On” demo that caught the attention of former Sub Pop and Secretly Canadian recording artist and producer Damien Jurado, who proposed recording the track, and album, with a more organic, analogue, acoustic and lush instrumental approach. The result of Jurado’s production and vision are evidenced on a more raw and honest record with plenty of sonic surprises. For example, ‘So Long, Carry On‘ is the first time Massy Ferguson has recorded tubular bells in a song.
‘So Long, Carry On‘ explores the themes of road-weariness, longing and wanderlust, atmospheric lyrics ala Wilco with an intimate live room grit that recalls Nathanial Rateliff & the Night Sweats. Lyrically, Anderson said his inspiration for the song was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s line in The Great Gatsby “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life“. In Anderson’s words, “The song really is about the feeling of constantly longing for more. In music, in life, in everything. And being distraught when you don’t get what you want, but somehow even more confused and overwhelmed if you do get what you want.“
‘So Long, Carry On‘ was tracked live and also features Craig Curran on bass, most known for his work playing/touring with Fleet Foxes. Massy Ferguson has a UK tour starting in a couple of days and running into July.
