Trust Fund is the musical project of singer-songwriter Ellis Jones. The band, which featured a rotating lineup of musicians, self-released an EP titled I’ve Been Ages in 2012, followed, one year later, by a second, Don’t Let Them Begin, and a split EP with the Welsh band Joanna Gruesome in 2014. In early 2015, Trust Fund signed to Turnstile Records for the release of the first full-length album, No One’s Coming for Us, and in the autumn of the same year, the second album, Seems Unfair, followed on the same label. After moving from Bristol to Leeds, a third album, We Have Always Lived in the Harolds, was released in June 2016 without a record label. The title is a reference to Shirley Jackson’s 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. In July 2018, Trust Fund released their fourth full-length album, Bringing the Backline, which was intended to be their last and coincided with the decision to disband. It was only in March 2022, that Jones decided to go back to the Trust Fund name and began releasing new singles. On November 1st 2024, Trust Fund released a new album, the fifth, Has It Been a While, recorded in Sheffield by producer and close friend Joe Mackenzie Todd, via Tapete Records. On Has It Been A While? Jones strips his songs down to classical guitar and vocals, supported by captivating string quartet arrangements provided by Maria Grig.

What Ellis Says: “This is a duet (with Radiant Heart’s Celia MacDougall, editor’s note) – and a kind of dual-character study, I suppose. It’s about how people in relationships might combine, and how that might bring out some opposing (and hopefully complimentary) character traits“.

“This is the last song on the record, and it feels to me like the emotional cornerstone. It was the first song to be completely written, and it was by far the quickest. I think I had a demo ready within about thirty minutes. But then it really came to life when I started playing it with other people. Celia added the vocal harmonies, and the string arrangements stemmed from an idea that Joe Mackenzie Todd – the album’s producer – had while playing bass.“

About The Album:

“I think it’s an ambitious record – but it’s quietly ambitious. I wanted to make something that explored a specific aesthetic, but that might still be diverse and engaging across thirty-five minutes. Creating the string arrangements took me totally out of my comfort zone – I don’t read music – and I’m very proud that I’ve produced something that was more or less what I had in mind. I have a lot more time for good musicianship, when it’s applied well, and the idea of self-improvement.”

His Mixtape:

Ran Blake, Jeanne Lee – You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Boston, 1989)

Most of the inspiration for the new record comes from guitar players. But this piano and vocal performance has the exact dynamic I was hoping to emulate: so much space, so much density. Six minutes disappear.

Rogers Covey-Crump, Jakob Lindberg – His Golden Locks Time Hath to Silver Turned (by John Dowland)

I wouldn’t have remembered the performers’ names. When you’re trying to listen to classical music with vocals, I’m afraid you’re looking for the least obnoxious. Something that allows you to without being totally turned off. I think this does the job. It’s a beautiful song, based on a sweet poem about being too old to protect someone physically, but still able to protect them spiritually (i.e. as a bedesman). New University takes some inspiration from this, I think, and is in a kind of ‘lute tuning’.

Tele Novella – Eggs in One Basket

This is modern music that could almost have existed in the sixties – it sounds like Mary Hopkins’ Those Were The Days – but a few production flourishes, and an unplaceable affect in the lyrics and delivery, remind you that we are here and now. I was trying to do something similar.

Skara Brae – An Cailín Rua

This is a Gaelic folk song – I don’t know it’s age (but this recording is from 1971); I didn’t know anything about the lyric until I just looked it up. I don’t have much to say about it. But it’s a beautiful arrangement and the production is absolutely perfect.

Peter Kraus, Mark Bird – ‘Trois Gnossiennes (IV-VI)’ by Erik Satie

Again, I’m sorry I can’t say much about what this is, or where it comes from. These are works written for piano, but arranged here for two classical guitars. Satie is a playful composer and more importantly, for me, his compositions sound like songs. I particularly like the middle section of this recording (which I suppose is Gnossienne no. 5?), which has a real freedom of tempo and very satisfying use of open strings in the lead guitar phrases.

Terry Callier – Promenade in Green

Something I discovered late, via the Spotify algorithm, I think, but that instantly became a touchstone for the sound of my album. Specifically, the reverb and the tape noise. I think we ended up scaling back – there’s a danger of lapsing into parody or pastiche – but hopefully there’s still some affinity there.

Has It Been A While? is out now via Tapete Records. Look HERE for more information on Trust Fund.