Ned Ferm - Autumn's Darling - CD

On his celebrated debut recording as a leader in 2014, Spent All The Money, American multi-instrumentalist and composer Ned Ferm shared part of his musical history, language, and vision of what music can sound like when strict genre lines are abandoned. In mid-2022, his Heart In Hand project with Kenny Wollesen was met with rave reviews for taking listeners on a kaleidoscopic musical voyage through the American West and beyond. Now, on Autumn's Darling, Ferm leans deep into his rural upbringing with a vocal album featuring a deep roster of creative voices and riveting storytelling brought to life by the vocal stylings of the bandleader and Marie Fisker.   

Ferm was born and raised on a farm on an island off the coast of Maine, where he was a child prodigy, starting on violin and later focusing on saxophone. He skipped attended William Paterson University in New Jersey as a student in the school’s prestigious Jazz Studies program for two years before becoming the first American student ever accepted into Copenhagen's Rhythmic Music Conservatory in 2001, where he would go on to receive three degrees and now teaches (when he’s not performing, recording, producing, translating, bartending, and coaching basketball).  

The songs and lyrics on this new album are all written by Ferm, with a few co-written by other bandmates who also appear on the recording (with the exception of Nicolai Munch-Hansen, 1977-2017). The subject material varies from care-free innocent fun to nightmarish survival (Ferm says that the writings of Cormac McCarthy heavily influenced his lyrics for several songs). Genre-wise, there are sweet and steamy country ballads, pop tunes with insistent driving beats, swinging folk songs, and smoothly polished almost classic rock-inspired tunes.

After some wildly creative instrumental dubbing, mixing, and editing sessions, Marie Fisker came into the same studio to add her sultry, soulful voice to the songs, which brought the sound of Autumn's Darling together.  

Ned Ferm - vocals, saxophone, flute, keyboards, percussion; Marie Fisker - vocals; Mads Brinch Nielsen - guitars, keys, perc;m Jepe Brix Sorensen - guitars; Rune Kjeldsen - guitars, keys; Jacob Funch - guitars, keys, perc, voc; Mads Hyhne - trombone, keys, perc; Silas Tinglef - drums, bass, guitars, perc; Anders Christensen - bass, piano; Jens Hein - bass, guitar; Jakob Hoyer - drums, perc; Rasmus Valldorf, Adrian Aurelius - perc.