Jim Ghedi – Wasteland | soundsfromthedarkside

From the moment Wasteland blasts from your speakers, it’s clear that Jim Ghedi is not just making another folk album, he’s making a statement.

We have been following Jim Ghedi from our side of the North Sea for a few years now. Thanks to In The Furrows Of Common Place (2021), we already knew that Ghedi is an expert storyteller who bridges the ancient and modern. With the release of the solo track What Will Become of England, it became evident that something big and brooding was in the works. Now, with much anticipation, we welcome his most powerful statement yet. On Wasteland, singer-activist Ghedi paints a grim vision of Britain while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of folk music.

On his fourth full release under his own name Ghedi sings about personal loss and also doubles down on the social themes he addresses on In The Furrows. These themes are not new to folk music as in the 1970s bands like The Oldham Tinkers already warned of laissez-faire capitalism. Their grim humor of a symbolic town owl becoming a flamingo now is reality. Or as Ghedi puts it, places and social structures have been sold out and now are broken and unrecognizable. It is this wasteland that leaves people lost, and Ghedi channels their struggles to find footing in a crumbling landscape. With help of experienced artists such as Cormac MacDiarmada (Lankum), Ruth Clinton (Landless) and Amelia Baker (Cinder Well) Ghedi has created an album that’s rich, dynamic, and full of life but also is raw to the core.From the very first track, Old Stones, it’s clear that Wasteland is unlike anything Ghedi has done before. The song, about a friend who passed away, builds around a foreboding electric guitar line and dominating drumbeat. As Ghedi eventually passionately soars above the swelling music the stage is set for an album that refuses to settle into comfort. Title track Wasteland is full of shifting full band dynamics and unexpected sonic turns that are uncommon for the genre. Wasteland, is a slow-burning epic that encapsulates the album’s themes perfectly. Opening with a sparse acoustic guitar line, the song gradually builds in intensity, with distorted electric guitar and pounding percussion giving it a sense of urgency. The chorus is one of the most striking moments on the album and feels both mournful and defiant. More experimentation is heard on Sheaf & Feld with its near noise outbursts that eventually settles in hypnotic layers of electric guitar and synths. Directly after, Hester, a metaphor that addresses community cohesion, offers comfort at the start but quickly unfolds into one of the album’s standout tracks with its quiet-loud dynamics supported by Ghedi haunting vocals.

The most traditional moments on Wasteland are heard on songs with a communal approach. On the old Irish ballad Seasons Ghedi leads a harmony with MacDiarmada, Clinton and Baker on a deeply rooted song about loss and decay. Another interpretation of this sort of depth is heard What Will Become of England, a drone-heavy reinterpretation of a traditional song that sounds eerily foreshadowing. The song addresses unemployment, poor living conditions, and the exploitation of the working class, and is a crystal clear warning of Ghedi to policymakers and politicians.

Wasteland is Ghedi’s most outspoken album to date as it captures the unease of a world that is changing for the worse. But for all its darkness, there are also sparse moments of hope. As devastation is widely acknowledged, Ghedi looks to the common man to shape a better future and suggests statesmen should not ignore their collective memories and traditions. In a time when folk music is often seen as either a nostalgic retreat or a niche genre, Wasteland proves that folk can still be innovative, urgent and thus necessary. With that in mind Jim Ghedi not only delivers a stunning new album but also reclaims a place for a whole genre in the contemporary music scene.