Who Is the Sender?

Who Is the Sender? is the fifth studio album by English singer, pianist and songwriter Bill Fay, released by Dead Oceans in April 2015 by Dead Oceans. The second album track, "War Machine", was released in February 2015.^[1][2] The closing track, "I Hear You Calling (Studio Reunion)", was originally recorded for Fay's 1971 album Time of the Last Persecution.^[3]

Who Is the Sender?
Studio album by Bill Fay
Released	April 2015
Genre	Progressive folk
Label	Dead Oceans
Bill Fay chronology
Life Is People (2012) Who Is the Sender? (2015) Countless Branches (2020)

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
The Guardian	[5]
Pitchfork Media	7.4/10.0[6]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Who Is the Sender? received an average score of 76, based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[4] AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek said that the album contains "simple, profound songs" that "embrace the totality of earthly experience in the presence of the Divine".^[3] Dave Simpson of the Guardian called the album "beautifully hymnal" and said that "throughout, [Fay's] craft and enduring fascination with music itself is rather humbling."^[5] Pitchfork Media's Grayson Currin said that it "moves [Fay] from the category of a curiosity who returned after a four-decade absence to make a third great album to someone perhaps capable of doing so in perpetuity."^[6] In a review for the New York Times, Ben Ratliff said that Fay "means well" but that the album was "a trudge, and strangely ponderous in its smallness."^[7]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Geese Are Flying Westward"	2:58
2.	"War Machine"	4:12
3.	"How Little?"	6:03
4.	"Underneath the Sun"	5:40
5.	"Something Else Ahead"	3:11
6.	"Order of the Day"	3:39
7.	"Who Is the Sender?"	4:56
8.	"The Freedom to Read"	4:12
9.	"Bring it on Lord"	3:52
10.	"A Page Incomplete"	3:11
11.	"A Frail and Broken One"	4:29
12.	"World of Life"	5:02
13.	"I Hear You Calling (Studio Reunion)"	3:41

References

1. Dead Oceans (19 february 2015), ALBUM ANNOUNCE // Bill Fay ‘Who Is the Sender’ Out 4/28, Watch Lyric Video And Hear “War Machine”
2. Minsker, Evan (19 February 2015). "Bill Fay Announces Who Is the Sender?, Shares "War Machine" Lyric Video". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
3. Jurek, Thom. "Who Is the Sender? - Bill Fay". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
4. "Critic Reviews for Who Is the Sender?". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
5. Simpson, Dave (24 April 2015). "Bill Fay: Who Is the Sender? review – sublime observations". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
6. Haver Currin, Grayson (27 April 2015). "Bill Fay: Who Is the Sender?". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
7. Ratliff, Ben (27 April 2015). "Review: Bill Fay's 'Who Is the Sender?' Harks Back to Another Time". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015.

External links

• Bill Fay, War Machine, video
• Who Is the Sender? at Discogs (list of releases)