Stream: Will Fox, ‘Which Way’

Kevin Bronson on May 20th, 2019

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Will Fox doesn’t invent any new guitar chords or reinvent fingerpicking on his debut album “Which Way.” But the 27-year-old singer-songwriter leads listeners down a seemingly starlit path through his own inner conversations, in a soft croon uniquely his own, and that is more than enough.

At the end of that path, of course, lies a fork in the road. Because there are always those. “I chose to call the album ‘Which Way’ because it represents the very question we ask ourselves when coming to the crossroad,” says Fox, who played in Ryan Pollie’s band Los Angeles Police Department. “Which way do I go? Which way do I love my ex-girlfriend? How do I deal with my dad being sick? Which way do I go in my career? Which way do you turn when you’re dealing with loss? Ultimately the very completion of this record is a symbolic answer to a lot of these questions, you just keep on moving forward.

“There isn’t always an answer, there isn’t always a light at the end of the tunnel, but there is a beauty in traversing the ups and downs.”

“Which Way’s” serpentine title track laments life’s indecision and the constant search for signposts, a recurring theme throughout the collection. “Which Way” features collaborations with Rob Schnapf (the co-producer on three seminal Elliott Smith albums, among his many other credits), Tim Keen (Ought), Greta Morgan (Springtime Carnivore), Jessica Maros (Escondido), Brendan Lynch-Salamon (LAPD) and Matt Schuessler (Loma, Joe Pug). Fans of Smith, Nick Drake, Cass McCombs and Sam Cohen will find much to like here.

“Which Way” via out July 12 on Two Syllable Records.

||| Stream: “Which Way”