Occasionally I do Spotify dives, and interesting sounding songs I'll drop into a playlist to keep around. On one of my excursions, I ended up hearing "Far Away." I had no idea it was a soundtrack song for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Red Dead Redemption, or had any other associations. All I knew was that this was a song I would be listening to for years to come.
Just a blues-based song with a one-chord main guitar part, this song could have ended up sounding many different ways. Some key decisions make it stand out.
To open with some random warm-up noise is cool. And it pays off when the song kicks off, suddenly so extremely focused.
The electric guitars have some gain on them, and they could have been heavy rock guitars if they were attacked harder. Instead, the guitars stings are barely grazed, creating a meditative pulse so restrained that a finger-plucked nylon string classical guitar can play lead licks over them.
The drums also dare losing control, setting a fast pace that usually means some loud dynamics are in order. But like the guitars, as they drive forward, they are doing so with the softest touch. The organ solo is again this opportunity to blow out, but instead we get this low-key bending, descending series of chords.
No sooner does the organ solo resolve than we embark on the payoff, this deep, dark 5-3-1 progression, a peak of such minimal delight.
The whole song, the vocals are so sparse, just these drifting little lines sung in a handsome, plain voice. They come in and keep this song going. Underlying the melody, the chord changes are rare enough to be notable moments.
2.5 minutes and done. The economy in every phrase is so charging. The quality of the instrumental parts and vocals make the formal choices look so smart.
Junip is a Swedish folk duo who employ backing musicians as needed. The organist is named Tobias Winterkorn. The lead singer/guitarist for this band is named José Gabriel González. Curious why the vocalist of a Swedish folk duo has a patently romantic Hispanic name?
Mr. González's family fled to Sweden from Argentina to escape the takeover of a right wing military junta in their country. The right wing takeover led to the "Dirty War," which I'll just let Wikipedia summarize for you:
"The "Dirty War" (Spanish: Guerra Sucia), was the name used by the Argentine Military Government for a period of state terrorism in Argentina from roughly 1974 to 1983 (some sources date the beginning to 1969), during which military and security forces and right-wing death squads in the form of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A) hunted down and killed left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone believed to be associated with socialism."
Now a Swede, González is responding to his displacement due to extremist anarchy with nothing other than excellently calm, composed rock folk. And the only reason he's not a "typical" peaceful refugee is because nobody of any kind usually writes music this well.