Fever Longing Still [CD]

Paul Kelly - Fever Longing Still [CD]

For his latest album 'Fever Longing Still' which was recorded at Neil Finn’s studio Roundhead in New Zealand, he’s focused on the topic of Love. The fire of love. The pain of love. Love of family. Love entwined in memory and place. Love has always been at the heart of many of Paul Kelly’s greatest songs. Taken from a line in Sonnet 147 by Shakespeare, whose writing has thrilled and inspired Kelly ever since schooldays, Fever Longing Still is his first set of new original material since 2018’s Nature, and it delivers 12 additions to that superb catalog of love songs spanning more than 40 years. “Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy,” as one of the new songs says. As any of the best-loved songs from Kelly’s pen, “All Those Smiling Faces” is an emotional and vivid exploration of recollection, like peering inside the memories in a photo album. First appearing as a banjo-led version on 1992’s bluegrass album Smoke, “Taught By Experts” also surfaces. “I have been circling that song for years,” Kelly says. “We thought we should try it with a chiming electric guitar part, and when we did that, we knew that was it.” Among the newly-penned tracks, “Harpoon to the Heart,” is the kind of song which might have been written any time in the past 100 years. Kelly says, “It has a quirky, playful spirit to it, which earned its place on the record. That one was written quickly and ‘Houndstooth Dress’ came out in one go." “Looking back on what we’ve done with these songs, it’s really a band record,” Kelly says. “Our philosophy is eclectic; we want to make each song different from the last. I just love that when I bring a new song to them, it can take on a completely new life.”