Music has long been a very relevant medium for storytelling, remembrance, and healing. With Fare Thee Well, Larry Karpenko provides a ballad that is both deeply personal and universally familiar, probing the bittersweet spaces of love, loss, and endurance. Inspired by the loss of his beloved friend, Sharlene, this song is not just an art to be consumed, but a movable farewell, cloaked in lush instrumentation and earnest lyrics.
From its opening piano motif (a concept developed over twenty years ago, that finally found its rightful home in this piece) to the beautiful layers of bass and synthesizers, Fare Thee Well is a masterclass in musical storytelling. Such warmth in Karpenko's delicate yet charged vocals gently escorts the listener through rushes of recollection and yearning this cyclical dynamic is further enhanced, from section to section, by contrasts in rhythm and tempo.
The production, much like the instrumentation, is a delicate touch intended to convey the emotional weight of it all. The sound of the Fender Marcus Miller Jazz bass produces a plethora of flavors in the verses, while the synth textures here and there, leaning on the work of Peter Gabriel, provide an ephemeral new soundscape in the bridge to an emotional zenith. Even the rhythmic contrasts including shifts between 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures reflect the complex process of grief that is always unresolved but is a process of acceptance.
Fare Thee Well draws its inspiration from poetry shared at Sharlene’s memorial, touching on the theme that love endures even in the absence of someone physically. The ending refrain, with its references to “heaven” and “rest," is comforting and alludes to love, even with its loss, as everlasting. The fade-out conclusion of the piece suggests that music (and memory) continues forever even if the sound is no longer heard. As Karpenko looks to premier The River, an orchestral piece set for May of 2025, Fare Thee Well spotlights an ability to transcribe powerful feelings into sound.
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