Canadian songwriter B. Knox may have staked his reputation as a sparse instrumentalist on his acclaimed Heartbreak & Landscape, but this time around, he’s cementing his role as a singer and band leader. On Knox’s new album, Far From Folk (out on April 8th), Knox anchors his voice amidst a swell of organs and horn sections, channeling country soul to the fullest.
Knox is a former teacher, whose upbringing in Newfoundland rooted him in traditional Celtic music. The sense of loss — and humor — found there permeates the album. Written and recorded at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Far From Folk is both a descriptor of the album’s genre as well as Knox’s state of isolation. Knox originally wrote alone in a cottage on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Raised roughly 2,000 miles east of Georgian Bay on the Atlantic coast, Knox developed an appreciation for the sea at an early age.
Double meanings run throughout Far From Folk. “Let’s try and be civil, let’s try and be friends / If that doesn’t work, let’s burn it all down and start over again,” Knox sings during “Only Words,” a love song whose lyrics apply not to a relationship, but also to a society in need of a serious reboot.
“I was trying to create an apocalyptic love song – a ‘last kiss at the end of the world’ feeling – but also a heart’s call into the ether, the void of the unknown,” Knox tells Adobe & Teardrops. “The future is always uncertain, and I wanted the desperation of that to be viewed as something beautiful and complex, precariously teetering on the edge of darkness.”
Far From Folk will be released on April 8th