Jim Lord

“Glowing with a melodicism that has unfortunately become a bit of a rarity on the mainstream side of the dial in the last ten years or so, the guitar parts that we find inside of “Helplessly I Fell,” the new single from Jim Lord, are undeniably the most important component of the harmony that the track is built upon, and even if you’re unfamiliar with this artist’s discography, it’s hard not to notice the amount of skill and experience he brings to the instrumental end of his latest release. Lord is approachable, richly poetic and exposed in a way that so few players in the folk, country and adult contemporary genres are willing to be in 2020 here, making “Helplessly I Fell” one of the great songs of its kind to debut in the year thus far. Jim Lord isn’t just showing off his capabilities as a guitarist in this track; truth be told, this is some of the strongest vocal work he’s turned in since his 2000 record Hangdog Heaven. He’s demonstrated a rather reserved attitude with his verses prior to now, but that reticence is missing from this composition – in its place, we discover nothing but a willingness to be heard, and moreover, a desire to get this narrative across with a serenade as potent as any of the actual words are. Lord is forward and undaunted by the task set before him in “Helplessly I Fell,” essentially confirming his status as being among the more elite singer/songwriters in his peer group today. With regard to the arrangement of the instrumentation in this track, there’s no need to debate whether or not the musicality in “Helplessly I Fell” endears itself more to a conservative school of thought than it does the contemporary alternative aesthetic, but I wouldn’t say that the song qualifies as a straight throwback to 70’s folk/rock ala John Denver and James Taylor. Lord is giving us as a lot of guts where it counts here and simplicity in the compositional framework where it matters the most, and despite the difficulties that come with striking this kind of a balance, he never sounds even slightly unprepared or overwhelmed by the ambitious nature of the music in this single. He’s come a long way since 1982’s Inside Out, and longtime fans will especially appreciate his development. I only just recently started exploring Jim Lord’s deeper catalogue of releases again, but “Helplessly I Fell” is unquestionably one of his best songs to hit record stores in the time he’s been back in the spotlight. It’s been said that we’re living in a new renaissance for singer/songwriters, and to some degree, the reemergence of iconic indie players like this one only makes this theory harder for anyone to dispute. Even if you’ve never heard his music before, I encourage you to get out and acquire a copy of Lord’s Little Star and its cornerstone single in “Helplessly I Fell” sooner than later. Folk enthusiasts won’t regret it, and the same can probably said for anybody who loves a solid, organic melody.”

“Like a light gust of wind cutting through the warmth of a springtime sunshine, the first few bars of Jim Lord’s “Helplessly I Fell” are gentle but instantly evocative, drawing us closer to the growing melody they have to behold. The acoustic guitar that we hear in this instrumental introduction to the track will play a crucial role in making the mood in “Helplessly I Fell” as tangible as it will ultimately become, but it isn’t the only key component for us to tune into here. When Jim Lord starts to sing, there’s a weighty emotiveness in his vocal that cannot be ignored even by the most novice of music buffs, and through his verses we begin to visualize everything he’s describing as though it were coming to life right before our very eyes. All of his cards are on the table in this song, and there’s nowhere for him – or the listener – to hide as its narrative unfolds. This is premium folk-rock for a discriminating generation of connoisseurs, and it couldn’t be arriving at a more important moment this spring. The rhythm here is somewhat plodding, driven forth by a soft percussive channel that never becomes much more than a half-muted nudge in the grander scheme of things. The most powerful element pushing this tempo is the string play, which when synched up with the lead vocal makes it feel as if we’re rocking back and forth to a peaceful lullaby a parent might share with their child before bed. Lord patiently uncages the harmony between his voice and the guitar, providing it just enough space to steal the show away from his own lyrics as we reach the midway point in the track, and although it’s as colorful as they come, it doesn’t saturate the speakers in overpowering texture. I honestly wouldn’t expect anything less from a player like this one, who has devoted the bulk of his life to perfecting the studio process, but while it’s on par with what most of us have come to love about his work, there’s no getting around the fact that Jim Lord’s latest release is quite refreshing amidst the plasticized culture of today’s pop music. “Helplessly I Fell” comes to a conclusion in a haze of lingering violin and acoustic guitar nattering, hinting that its message is one that won’t immediately fade once the music has stopped playing. Though I was anticipating a lot out of this new single from Jim Lord, I was somewhat surprised to encounter such a deeply emotional release from his moniker at this point in his career. He’s covered a lot of ground since dropping his debut album all the way back in 1982, but in this song, he’s showing us that there’s still plenty of uncharted territory that he wants to dig into. Lord has the skill to make pretty much any kind of music he wants to these days, but much to the delight of his many fans – myself included – he’s still creating a strain of folk-rock that will never go out of style (and doing it better than any of his rivals are).”

““Never needed much / Gave away my share / ‘Till I felt your love / ‘Till I felt you there” sings Jim Lord in a retrospective tone as his new single “Helplessly I Fell” begins to take shape before us. In this track, the iconic Lord is unafraid of his own emotionality, bearing his heart on his sleeve without ever hesitating in this harmony-powered ballad. “Helplessly I Fell” asks nothing of its audience other than for a little over four minutes of time to share a story as unique as its teller is, and in exchange we’re provided a picture window into the artistry of a truly underrated singer/songwriter. This release, much like the other music Lord has submitted over the years, enjoys an amazing production quality, but there’s nothing about the mix or engineering that I would point out as being overly polished or pop-centric in stylization. The melodies here are really muscular, contained within the parameters set forth by the verses at the start of the song, and even when the fluidity of the strings is hypnotizing us from the background, our attention is never dragged away from the main action being sourced from the lead vocal. Lord’s singing isn’t the loudest element in this master mix, but I think “Helplessly I Fell” was deliberately constructed this way as to allow for all of the music here to create a collective physicality that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Jim Lord has always produced some really meticulously crafted material, and in this sense, he hasn’t changed a bit since his rookie release Inside Out back in 1982. To a large extent, it’s probably the only thing about his sound that hasn’t evolved, but then again, this aspect of his music never needed to – it was always perfect just the way it is. I love the way the verses become intertwined with the strings as we get further along in this single, and though their joint ascent isn’t critical to the climax being as powerful as it is, I think it was a nice touch nevertheless. Too many artists focus on trying to make monolithic balladry these days instead of applying natural elements to a tried and true blueprint, which, for all intents and purposes, is what Jim Lord has done to quite a bit of success in the last forty years. His younger contemporaries could stand to learn a thing or two from his methods, and that’s putting it very mildly. If what I’ve just heard in “Helplessly I Fell” is just a taste of what’s still to come from the Jim Lord camp in the 2020’s, then I think we need to brace ourselves for what could easily be the most profound work of this man’s career. He’s cultivated a style that is inarguably his own, and in this single (as well as its parent album, Little Star), we’re hearing the fruits of his many years of labor in the most unfiltered, honest way that any audience could have asked for.”

“Jim Lord has been in the business of being a singer/songwriter for a number of decades now, and he’s putting everything he’s learned as a troubadour to work for him in “Helplessly I Fell,” the new single from his latest album, Little Star, which is currently out everywhere independent music is sold and streamed. Approaching his verses with a tempered, classically folk aesthetic, Lord shies away from experimentation in favor of sticking with what he knows best in “Helplessly I Fell,” and it’s the audience that winds up reaping all the rewards of his efforts when everything is said and done. There have been scores of great indie folk/rock releases making waves this spring, but for purity, there’s no trumping this recent dispatch. This track has an awesome flow that feels almost like a live performance more than it does a standard studio recording, and similarly to the songs it’s joined by in Little Star, “Helplessly I Fell” doesn’t include any of the typical artificialities that have become commonplace in new music today. There are no bells and whistles on the guitar parts, nor are there any beefed up components on the backend to create the illusion of spaciousness in the composition. Lord doesn’t need any of these fanciful tricks to make a big impression here; contrarily, I think that kind of fluff would just get in his way in a track like “Helplessly I Fell,” which is designed around a fairly simplistic concept rather than a particularly progressive one. Lyrically speaking, I think this song could represent the most vulnerable look that we’ve ever seen Jim Lord adopt in a studio recording (2017’s Live at Armando’s doesn’t count). It’s obvious that he isn’t holding anything back with his verses here, and for every sterling band of melodic ribbonry that the guitar parts emit, the ensuing harmony seems to reflect all of the emotion the words are trying so desperately to express to us. Lord isn’t utilizing linguistics as an exclusive means of imparting his narrative to us in “Helplessly I Fell;” instead, he’s employing virtually every authentic weapon at his disposal whilst adhering to a stripped-down aesthetic that doesn’t allow for overindulgence in any scenario – especially when dealing with a ballad like this one. For fans of big harmonies and the mighty tradition of American folk-rock, Jim Lord’s “Helplessly I Fell” is a grand slam that cannot afford to be missed this March, and I’m definitely not the only critic remarking as much right now. Whether planning to do so or not, this singer/songwriter raised the bar for himself and the scene that spawned him with the release of Little Star and its lead single this spring, and though it tells us a lot about how much Lord has grown in the last forty years-plus, it tells us even more about where he’s planning to take his music in the future. I’ll be sticking around for the ride, and judging from the response this track is getting, so will the rest of the indie folk underground.”