JW Farquhar is an American musician and singer-songwriter based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He is known for his 1973 album, ''The Formal Female''. Music critic Ned Raggett called it a "forerunner" to

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

and outsider artists including R. Stevie Moore and

Jandek Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith (born October 26, 1945), a Houston, Texas-based American Lo-fi music, lo-fi Folk music, folk singer. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 120 albums while granting an interview extreme ...

Biography

Farquhar graduated high school in 1956 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, NJ, and studied electrical engineering for three years at Drexel University, but never finished his degree. JW Farquhar recorded his debut album, ''The Formal Female'', following the end of his 10-year marriage in 1972. Having little money for gear following the divorce, JW Farquhar recorded the album in response to his ex-wife, using a

TEAC () is a Japanese electronics manufacturer. TEAC was created by the merger of the Tokyo Television Acoustic Company, founded in 1953, and the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, founded in 1956. Overview TEAC has four divisions: *TASCAM - con ...

4-track and playing all the instruments, including a primitive

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

. The recording took place in his apartment in Philadelphia. Due to the presence of various background sounds surrounding his third floor apartment including sirens, buses, and gunshots, Farquhar tried to soundproof his apartment by covering the windows with foam, receiving mixed results. The album was released on Brainblobru Records in 1973 with a private pressing and was reissued in 2008 through Shadoks Records. Farquhar’s music is categorized as "acid rock" and features "guitar chops with a smattering of weird effects, harmonica, and rustic

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

." He was compared to Tom Waits and ''The Formal Female'' was described as what "

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

’s '' Democrazy'' would be some 30 years later." Farquhar's lyrics primarily focus on his bitterness against his ex-wife. According to

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

critic Alan Ranta "they end up being more ludicrous than tormented, which oddly makes JW that much more compelling." In the late 1980s, Farquhar moved to

Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 24,521. Some businesses and residents in th ...

, where he released his second album, ''AgentX'', in 1997. He now writes books dissecting the Bible mathematically and spiritually.

Discography

;Studio albums * ''The Formal Female'' (1973) * ''AgentX'' (1997)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farquhar, JW Living people American rock singers American rock songwriters American rock guitarists American male guitarists Psychedelic rock musicians American male singer-songwriters American outsider musicians Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania American folk rock musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Guitarists from Philadelphia