Next month, Jon Boden will release his fifth solo album ‘Last Mile Home‘, the final album in his post-climate-change trilogy which began life with Songs from the Floodplain and was followed by Afterglow (reviewed here). Afterglow was a more urban and narrative-driven album that focused specifically on one night at a street party. For the finale, the horizon broadens, focusing on a long walk…something which seems appropriate considering the current habits of the nation, many of whom are taking time to walk longer and further…
Last Mile Home tells the story of a walk from moor to coast. The edge of Sheffield (where the trilogy of records originates) to Mablethorpe is a walk of eighty miles crossing the M1, passing through the urban sprawl of Rotherham, and leading eventually to the Lincolnshire Wolds and the North Sea.
It describes a journey from moor to coast in a landscape empty of human life but overflowing with nature. A meditation on solitude, memory and nature, the album was recorded during the spring/summer of 2020 and is full of the sounds and images of nature reclaiming an abandoned world.
Taken from the album, Jon has shared the track Cinnamon Water…
Jon on Cinnamon Water:
One great consolation of lockdown for me was finally getting around to trying “wild swimming” in earnest. I live near to a series of tree-lined reservoirs and the dark brown water provided me with many hours of tranquillity during 2020.
Folk Radio will be bringing you more on the album very soon.
“It’s been twelve years since the first of these songs made itself known to me and started me off
Jon Boden
on the road to Songs From The Floodplain. Since then it’s been a process of constant but gradual
unfolding for me, even when my focus was elsewhere. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey too and
are able to find your own stories on Songs From The Floodplain, Afterglow and Last Mile Home.”
Pre-Order Last Mile Home, out on 5 March via Hudson Records: http://smarturl.it/lastmilehome
Photo Credit: Tim James