Ross Farrar is a busy guy. Since his best-known band Ceremony released their previous album In The Spirit World Now in 2019, he's been shifting his focus more towards his other, newer band Spice, publishing occasional poetry in places like The Paris Review, and putting out solo music under the moniker RJF. In 2023 he put out his post-punky debut solo album Going Strange, which he followed up in 2024 with the more minimal Strange Going. Turns out he's not stopping the streak in 2025.
RJF's new album Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building arrives in August, and it's billed as "exploration of the middle ground between Lunghfishian mad man poetic dialogue, minimalist post punk of Young Marble Giants, experimental post rock of early Pram, and lo-fi Amen Dunes pop." That's one intriguing mouthful. While the album doesn't strip away Farrar's punk roots entirely, it does so in a more classic fashion, nodding to its less rowdy pioneers like Lou Reed.
Lead single "Exile" is out now, and it's an atmospheric wash of pared-down, reverb-heavy guitars that sound quite pretty with Farrar's subdued vocals. Listen to it and see the full album tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Advance"
02 "The Solitude Of Victory"
03 "Ovidian"
04 "Gravity Hill"
05 "In Your City"
06 "Exile"
07 "Here Again"
08 "Frogs"
09 "Strawberry"
10 "Traveling Light From Afar"
Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building is out 8/15 via Dais.
