Farpoint's vision is to create melodic and powerful positive music that is accessible without compromising its artistic integrity. The band's music can be described as folky art rock with a progressive edge. Diversity is the key to the Farpoint sound, with influences ranging from progressive, folk, and metal to Celtic, classical, new age and bluegrass. Instrumentation includes the standard rock instruments augmented by classical guitar, mandolin, flute, various types of percussion and layered vocal harmonies.
Farpoint was formed in Sumter, South Carolina, USA in early 1997 with the musical meeting of guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Jarvis and drummer Rick Walker. Joined in the fall of the same year by vocalist/flautist Dana Oxendine, the band began writing and rehearsing. The band began perfomring local gigs and had soon added vocalist Clark Boone and bassist/guitarist Frank Tyson to its ranks. In summer of 2001, Rick left the band to be replaced by Johnathan Rodriguez. Farpoint continued playing regularly at clubs, parties, festivals and fundraisers.
In May of 2002, Farpoint released its first full-length album, First Light, which featured cover art by the talented artist David Frain of V Motion Picture Lab. Simultaneously, Farpoint acquired a new member in guitarist Mike Avins, and they immediately began work on a second album, while playing live regularly. The second album, entitled Grace, again featuring David Frains imaginitive cover art, was released in April 2003.
Sometimes life has a way of coming full circle, and in September 2003, Johnathan Rodriguez decided to resign from the band. As fate would have it, long-time friend, original drummer and founding member Rick Walker was not doing anything musically at the time and looking for a band to begin playing with again. In late September, 2003, Rick rejoined Farpoint.
The summer of 2004 was a busy time for Farpoint. Between recording a new cd and playing regular gigs, Farpoint was asked to contribute a song to the upcoming Mellow Records Moody Blues tribute cd entitled Higher and Higher. "New Horizons," a beautiful and moving Justin Hayward composition, was chosen and recorded. And, the third Farpoint cd, entitled From Dreaming to Dreaming, was completed and released in November, 2004. This album featured Farpoint's most dynamic and varied work to date, as well as some more outstanding artwork from David Frain on the cover and throughout the cd booklet.
In the last months of 2005, due to a combination of internal and external pressures, Farpoint disbanded. However, Rick and Kevin continued working on material that had been slated for the next Farpoint release and they began looking for musicians to help complete the album. By February 2006, Frank Tyson expressed interest in continuing to work on the material, and in March Farpoint was complete again with the addition of vocalist Dean Hallal and flautist/vocalist Jennifer Meeks.
A few live performances were booked for the summer of 2006, and the band enlisted the aid of the guitarist Joe Driggers for these shows. Joe's performance so impressed the band that they asked him to help record their 4th album, the forthcoming Cold Star Quiet Star. Joe added his talents to 5 of the album's 8 tracks.
In 2007, guitarist Sam Sanders helped Farpoint out with a few live performances, and ended up adding the finishing touches to the new album on lead guitar. In December Sam accepted the band's invitation to join as a permanent member.
Cold Star Quiet Star was released on February 19, 2008.
Featured below, an excerpt from V Motion Picture Lab's CG Movie, Light Speed Dreaming, featuring the animation of David Frain and the music of Farpoint, an extended and remixed version of "Lux Universum."
