Ian Fisher - Idle Hands (2018) [Hi-Res]

Should you just leave if you want to arrive someday? Ian Fisher has been asking this question since the day he left his rural Missouri farm for Europe. Ten years have passed since then, but never has the musician stayed in one place for more than a month. Vienna, Berlin, New York, Munich, Nashville… All just stations on an endless path.

So it begins as a folk troubadour. In search of an identity as a expatriate, Country Music became more and more a part of his musical security blanket, but eventually the limits of the genre couldn’t hold him anymore. In his own words, “I know now that borders, both musical and national, are only in your mind.” With his new album Idle Hands, this American born and European raised world-citizen opens the barriers and confidently establishes himself as a modern songwriter with a classic touch.

Ian Fisher was schooled by his father’s record collection in the songwriting of the 1970’s, when diversity of style was the epitome of discipline and underneath each well written line was a well played groove. Bill Withers, Fleetwood Mac, and Jackson Browne are names that come to mind when listening to the warm composition and delivery of Idle Hands. This album, however, does not only look to the past for inspiration. Without the influence of modern groups like Timber Timbre, Jason Isbell, and Andy Shauf, this production’s contemporary sound would not have been possible.

The songs were recorded in a small East Berlin studio tucked between old Soviet apartment blocs. Fresh off of a month long tour through Italy, Fisher and his band (Andreas Laudwein / bass, Ryan Thomas Carpenter / keys, & Hanno Stick / drums) tracked their parts live together in one room. You can hear that they had plenty of time to get to know each other and the songs. How no individual musician leads. How all that truly leads is the song itself. The string arrangements of Cornelius Borgolte and the pedal steel guitar of Ollie Samland make the sound complete. On top of it all, the timeless voice of the Danish singer Ida Wenøe dances from intimate accompaniments to soulful choirs. This mixture makes for an album that sounds immediate, varied, and lively at its core with delicate details surrounding it on all sides.

The complexity hidden in the simplicity of the lyrics is what gives these songs their real depth. Fisher says, “Since I don’t like to preach and at the same time am aware that everything can be interpreted in a political context, I like to blur the lines between what is personal and what is social in my lyrics.” Heartbreak finds its mirror in world events. With double-meanings and room for interpretation, Idle Hands is filled with plenty of food for thought.

They say that idle hands do the devil’s work, so of course the theme of being left behind and to your own devices recurs throughout the album. Fisher poetically compares the destructive complacency of losing a lover to the middle class’ angst as it gets left behind by an economic system that doesn’t need it anymore. Whether you are a coal miner in West Virginia, living off of social security in Eastern Europe, or a traveling songwriter, no one wants to feel useless. With Idle Hands, Ian Fisher reminds us of how we make ourselves useful by creating our own challenges to overcome.

Ian Fisher - vocals / guitar / producer
Andreas Laudwein - bass / assistant engineer / co-producer
Ryan Thomas Carpenter - keys / backing vocals
Ben Majchrzak - co-producer
Hanno Stick - drums
Ida Wenøe - backing vocals
Ollie Samland - pedal steel guitar
Cornelius Borgolte - string & horn arrangements / keys / co-producer
Henning Nierstenhöfer - trombone
Maria Hafner - violin
Andreas Hith - violin
Tobias Weber - viola
Benedikt Feiten - cello
Jonas David - assistant engineer
Alexander Zahel - assistant engineer
Rene Mühlberger - co-producer on “Tables Turn”