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Amidst a sea of singer-songwriters who are musicians first, Bahraini guitarist and lyricist Mohammed Farija is balancing his backgrounds as an author and an instrumentalist, as part of his most recent project.
His song Sinner’s Lament, released last week as part of his newest project titled Blue Vein River, is a perfect encapsulation of his literary and musical sides, infusing a layer of evergreen emotion into a song evoking rumination about mistakes and amends.
“Both Sinner’s Lament and my previous single, All The Same, were written days apart, back in 2019,” the 30-year-old musician who ‘daylights’ as an environmental specialist at Bapco, explained to GulfWeekly.
“I remember the writing process for these two songs vividly as they both acted as musical breakthroughs for me. Although I played guitar consistently, I hadn’t written many songs since 2015, and the few I did write I didn’t like. All The Same represented me dipping my toes and Sinner’s Lament was me going all in.”
Sinner’s Lament tells the tale of someone exploring the darker parts of their mind, tormented by guilt, who is looking to find a way out and make amends. The song, clocking in at three minutes and 41 seconds, has a loose sequel, Ten Years, to be released later this year.
Like past and upcoming songs in this project, Mohammed has written and recorded all parts himself.
“All of my songs start with a riff or chord idea on the guitar,” he added.
“The guitar is, and always will be, the core of my song writing process. I started recording music within months of learning the guitar. I taught myself the basics of good guitar tone, bass tone, drum tone, and how to make vocals work in a mix through years of practice.
“I record all my guitar and bass parts through a very elaborate pedalboard I put together, which goes directly into a recording interface. I programme all the drums. To record vocals I use an SM57 microphone, which isn’t usually used for vocals but for instruments, because it just seemed to work best with my voice over more conventional vocal microphones.”
Mohammed started playing guitar when he was 14, after his cousin taught him the basics. He prides himself on not having any formal musical training and continually draws lyrical inspiration from his literary passions.
In fact, the project and ‘band’ name Blue Vein Project, was inspired by a poem by Patti Smith.
“I like the idea of solo artists using band names, like Tame Impala or Passion Pit,” Mohammed explained. “I used to release my music under The Subliminal Reality Project during the early 2010s but my music today seemed so removed from then that it didn’t seem right to reuse that name
“I knew I had found the name when I stumbled upon the poem Wilderness by Patti Smith: Do animals make a human cry/ when their loved one staggers/ fowled dragged down/ the blue veined river.”
Changing veined into Vein, Mohammed started recording his songs this year, and plans to release an album in October.
He considers Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante to be his inspirations primarily because they respected the ethos where the song comes before musical showmanship. He also draws influences from many including Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys, BB King, The Beatles, Oasis, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead and Queens of the Stone Age.
The Hamad Town resident is also an author, having penned a non-fiction book The Layman’s Guide to Climate Change, as well as two novels - Loki, a reimagining of Norse mythology, and House of Seven, a supernatural thriller.
His next book, tentatively titled If You’re Reading This I’m Dead, is the first book in a detective mystery series and he is also currently working on another environmental non-fiction book.
Sinner’s Lament by Blue Vein Project is now available on all major music streaming platforms.
For more details, follow @blueveinriver on Instagram.
