Local Musician John Faraone’s Newest Album is Making Waves

Photograph by Dave Rezendes

Making an album isn’t easy — just ask John Faraone. The Pawtucket resident began working on his newest album, The Waves, in 2020, right as the pandemic hit.

While COVID-19 was an understandably scary time for Faraone, who had recently welcomed a baby boy as the world shut down, it also edged him closer to working on the project.

“Playing songs for my baby during the pandemic became like a revival of the importance of art,” says Faraone. “The stagnation of creativity during the beginning of the pandemic made me want to create even more. Once I started doubting the usefulness of creativity, it took over.”

Reading The Waves by Virginia Woolf helped supercharge his inspiration. With ideas flowing more freely, Faraone managed to write a majority of the album during lockdown. When it was time to go back to the real world — i.e., work — Faraone had a tough time balancing his passion for music with excelling at his day job.

“There was a constant battle of having a full-time job in the corporate world and maintaining my childlike wonder,” he says. “There is a daytime John and nighttime John. Unfortunately, the lines started to blur, and I began writing the album as daytime John when I wanted to write it as nighttime John.”

This struggle was one Faraone had dealt with before. His last album, Light Upon, came out in 2018 after three years of writing and working around a similar schedule. Despite the extra work trying to find time for the album, Faraone knew The Waves had to be made.

Once it was written, he began the recording process at Big Nice Studio in Lincoln. Though primarily a drummer, Faraone was a veritable one-man band on the album, playing the electric guitar, the drums, and singing as well.

The album deals with darker themes that weren’t apparent to
Faraone in his earlier years. Now in his forties, the musician aimed to capture feelings and ideas surrounding loss, parenthood and aging.

He’s playing at Myrtle in East Providence Dec. 17 — which is also the date you can listen to the album’s first single on all streaming platforms — ahead of the album’s January release.

A self-described perfectionist, Faraone is eager to once again have his art out in the world, especially after all that went into making a finished product possible.

“When you love to create and make art, the terribleness of the world doesn’t beat it out of you,” says Faraone. “If the art that you make can relate to just one person, then it’s all overwhelmingly worth it.”  johnfaraone.com