In 2018, the British songwriter Ellis Ford ended his project Trust Fund — which, now that I think about it, is an outrageous thing to call your band. It turned out, however, that the Trust Fund was not quite dry. Ford revived Trust Fund in 2022, and he’s cranked out a steady stream of one-off singles since then. The most recent of those was “Has It Been A While,” which came out last month. Apparently, that’s the title track of the first new Trust Fund album since 2018’s Bringing The Backline.

Today, Trust Fund announced that the new LP Has It Been A While? will arrive this fall. (To answer the titular question: It hasn’t really been that long.) Ellis Ford describes it like this:

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 35 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.

Most of the recent Trust Fund singles aren’t on the album, but the title track is. So is the album opener “Leaving The Party Early,” an absolutely gorgeous piece of acoustic psych-folk that gives off major Nick Drake vibes. Below, check out that song and the Has It Been A While? tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Leaving The Party Early”
02 “The Mirror”
03 “This Life”
04 “Curtis”
05 “A Wooden Medal”
06 “Until Now”
07 “The Hinterland”
08 “In The Air”
09 “I Look For Him”
10 “New University”
11 “Has It Been A While”
12 “One Calendar Year”

Has It Been A While is out 11/1 on Tapete Records.