Hailing from Northampton, Massachusetts, Paul Bergmann is a songwriter as prolific as he is intriguing. We first featured Paul back in 2015, when he released his excellent Romantic Thoughts EP; since then, Paul’s shared two further albums, an EP, and next month is set to share his latest record, Make Yourself At Home. The album is Paul’s first offering alongside his backing band, The Fair Moans, since the 2013 record, 1, and today we’re premiering the first single from it, Time.

Continuing our accidental theme of the week, epic Americana, Time is a track that brings The Fair Moans to the foreground, alongside Paul’s always impressive croon. Recalling Lift To Experience or Micah P. Hinson, the song is a slow, swirling pulse of a track. The guitars never rush, yet always glide with a fizzing sense of purpose, you can feel the anguish ringing from every fret. Lyrically, it’s a song that seems to be at a cross-roads, unsure whether the past is comforting or toxic, as Paul repeats at the close, “can I look back, or should I move along?”

Listening to Make Yourself At Home, it is clear it is a record, that sees Paul exploring new musical ground. While Paul’s recent solo offerings have taken on a polished quality, here with The Fair Moans, the approach is different. Perfection is not for this record, this is an album of truth; sometimes ugly, sometimes brutal, rarely straight forward, but wonderfully, winningly honest. Letting go of control, letting go of the pursuit of genius; counter-intuitively that might just be the path that leads Paul Bergmann towards his finest record to date.

Make Yourself At Home is out February 15th. Click HERE for more information on Paul Bergmann & The Fair Moans.