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Trust Fund, the musical project of singer-songwriter Ellis Jones, returns this year with a fifth album, Has It Been A While?, recorded earlier this year in Sheffield by producer and close friend Joe Mackenzie Todd, and released on Tapete Records.

Fans of Jones’ delicate, funny, relatable songwriting will know that yes, it has been a while. His last album was released six years ago. The 2018 LP Bringing the Backline – which received praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and more – coincided with Jones calling time on Trust Fund, as band members began their own families, and he moved to Norway (and then on to Canada) to begin a career in academia. As he puts it: “I turned thirty, I moved away, and I thought, ‘I guess I don’t do that anymore’”.

His return reflects a realisation that his music-making days continue to stretch out before him, and marks the development of a mature style that offers both continuity and change. While previous Trust Fund albums have foregrounded a fuzzy, indie-rock aesthetic, on Has It Been A While? Jones strips his songs down to classical guitar and vocals, supported by captivating string quartet arrangements provided by Maria Grig. Trust Fund’s lyrical dexterity remains, and is showcased here on tracks such as The Mirror (a duet with Radiant Heart’s Celia MacDougall), whose vainglorious protagonist would gladly “use the mirror as TV”.

For Jones, the key challenge of the record was creating something that felt both comfortable and challenging: “I think it’s an ambitious record – but it’s quietly ambitious. I wanted to make some- thing that explored a specific aesthetic, but that might still be diverse and engaging across 35 minutes. Creating the string arrangements took me totally out of my comfort zone – I don’t read music – and I’m very proud that I’ve produced something that was more or less what I had in mind. I have a lot more time for good musicianship, when it’s applied well, and the idea of self-improvement.”

Fans of seventies singer-songwriters, and in particular Nick Drake’s first two Joe Boyd-produced albums, will find much to recommend here, while Belle and Sebastian’s early folk-inflected material is another obvious touchstone. Elsewhere on the record, the title track itself evokes both the spirit and simplicity of Chet Baker’s “I Get Along Without You Very Well”.

Has It Been A While? marks the culmination of Trust Fund’s return to activity, following the low-key release of five single tracks across 2022 and 2023 – including ‘late nite skate’, which quickly became one of Trust Fund’s most-streamed songs. This material was collected in the 2023 EP ‘It Is What It Is’, clearing the way for this album of twelve new songs. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Leaving The Party Early
A2. The Mirror
A3. This Life
A4. Curtis
A5. A Wooden Medal
A6. Until Now
B1. The Hinterland
B2. In The Air
B3. I Look For Him
B4. New University
B5. Has It Been A While
B6. One Calendar Year