“Bones For The Boatman“ is the latest release by Lennox C.B., an outstanding Canadian singer-songwriter based in Toronto. It’s his first piece of work this year, arriving as an appropriate continuation of “Night Light” and “High Hopes,” two excellent full-length albums released in 2018 and 2021 that you should also check out as soon as possible. Still, his latest album arrives with many innovations in songwriting, composition, arrangements, and production, showcasing a natural progression of an already incredible artist. Lyrically, Lennox C.B. explores various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, diving deep into themes like death and rebirth, environmentalism, all tinged in existential angst. Therefore, it’s a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the broader audience. Sonically, “Bones For The Boatman“ blends various approaches, techniques, directions, and styles, representing a slight departure from Lennox C.B.’s previous works. While the presence of psych rock and dream pop is still vividly hearable in his music, you’ll also notice how this material leans much more towards dark folk, folk rock, and psych folk, with the additional sonic ingredients borrowed from art and alternative rock lurking around. The artist uses all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift his music to new heights, while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with various approaches, techniques, directions, and music genres resulted in a beautiful, dark, psychedelic, dreamy folk rock records that will not only appeal to the fans of the mentioned genres, but anyone who appreciates cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.
This epic sonic journey commences with “Rapture,” a marvelous composition that gradually prepares the listener for a pleasant listening experience while simultaneously showcasing what you might expect from the remainder of the material. All those bluesy, artsy, dreamy chord progression perfectly pair with warm-sounding, detailed low-ends, crafting a lush sonic backdrop for Lennox C.B.’s vocals to shine upon. The drums act as a percussive accentuations that not only dictate groove and pace, but also decorate all the segments. “Fire Flower” dives even deeper into dreamy, psychedelic, dark-folk aesthetics, with all those calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal guitar works arriving as a fascinating soundscape that immediately wraps around your listening apparatus, grabs you by the collar, and refuses to let go long after the last notes and beats end. Lennox C.B.’s hypnotic, addictive, irresistible vocal harmonies guide you through each segment with such precision and finesse while contributing emotional depth and complexity over an already intricate structure. “Meet Me By The Dogwood Tonight” is another standout track where the rhythm section becomes more defined yet subtle when necessary. Lennox C.B.’s sound is primarily focused on lush guitar and bass works, which, in many cases, act as support for his incredible vocal performance. He expertly crafts those otherworldly sonic landscapes where the fundamentals of folk music meet genre rock notes and dreamy ambiance. Tracks like “Alone Again,” “Wishing,” and “Heavy Heart” exemplify his dedication to the craft as each composition arrives with many impressive chord progressions, harmonies, melodies, and themes, delivered on electric and acoustic guitar. There’s a subtle touch of studio reverb, giving more depth and soul to these lush guitar works. The rhythm section, often presented through detailed, warm, vividly hearable low-ends, and delicate beats, helps out the mentioned orchestrations to shine even more in the mix while remaining as subtle as possible. Tracks like “Candlelight” also carry some Americana and country sound, but these elements are perfectly blended not to spoil Lennox C.B.’s primary sonic direction. Those details are hearable in the guitar works, but their presence is perfectly controlled from scratch to finish. This pleasant voyage closes with “Tapestry,” another calm, moderate folk-rock ballad that evokes the finest era for this genre. You’ll notice how retro meets the modern sound, but Lennox C.B. knows how to merge these two components together and craft more singature moves that defines his sound. The artist adds fuzz distortion towards the end for some extra punch, and it really works to the advantage of this song. Such a perfect closure that will force you to spin it all over again.
“Bones For The Boatman“ is a dreamy, psychedelic, dark folk rock masterpiece that vividly demonstrates all the experience, knowledge, creativity, skills, and talent of an artist. Lennox C.B. poured heart and soul into this comprehensive collection of deep, engaging, catchy compositions, proving that even the longstanding genres like folk rock can still sound fresh, unique, innovative, and exciting. “Bones For The Boatman“ is surely one of those folk albums that not only positions Lennox C.B. at the very top of the folk rock scene, but redefines what this genre could and should be in 2025. Therefore, head to your favorite streaming platform and check it out.
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