Bones For The Boatman marks the third solo album from Toronto-based musician Lennox C.B., who pairs dark folk-rock and psych-tinged atmospheres with poetic conceptual focuses. Jangly guitars, haunting vocals, and hypnotic percussion complement explorations into fear, longing, and self-discovery, blending poetic lyricism with grippingly nocturnal soundscapes. Drawing on influences from Nick Drake to Low, the album is abundant in atmosphere and intrigue.
Bones For The Boatman opens with stirringly atmospheric allure, intertwining jangly guitar chilliness and pit-pattering percussion as “Rapture” comes into view. A surreal meditation on fear and uncertainty, the track uses mythic imagery — “minotaur will know, waiting down below” — to mirror internal struggle and the search for direction with foreboding entrancement. The ensuing “Fire Flower” consumes with trickling guitars and a hypnotic vocal delivery of yearning, letting out: “I’m falling over / I strain to reach you / I’m falling over now for you.” The late-night guitar haunts and steady vocal tone make for a spine-tingling success.
Another highlight arises in “Wishing,” where dreamy vocals and flickering guitars combine for another delightfully nocturnal soundscape. The repeated use of verbs — “wishing, waiting, wonder … writhing, binding” — evoke a cyclical, almost alchemical process of self-discovery, continuing the opener’s poetic and introspective themes. Gently chiming guitars lead an especially memorable and lush outro, while album finale “Tapestry” beckons to “come to me, follow me” with those temptations of renewal, culminating in heavier guitar distortion for a fervent send-off. Lennox C.B.’s Bones For The Boatman is a memorable showcase in quality songwriting.
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“Wishing” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
