In his latest album, Swedish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jon-Olov Woxlin proves that genre can transcend borders.
Despite being born thousands of miles away from the U.S. in the pastoral Swedish province of Hälsingland, Woxlin fell in love with the sounds of Americana and country. In 2013, he began mixing and producing his own songs. What's now his seventh album, One-Way Ticket From Earth, released this December, and was recorded entirely in his Scandinavian kitchen, giving the whopping fourteen tracks a sense of earnestness and austerity.
"How Did It Come to This?" opens the album with no-frills vocals and acoustic guitar. "I am alone / Descending lower still," Woxlin sings. "For the sake of me / I must be strong." The sparse instrumentation echoes the desolation of the lyrics. Woxlin continues to reflect: "The horizon lies closely within my reach / It feels like life has nothing left to teach /How did it come to this?"
Woxlin continues to prod at existential feelings in "Folly of Man," a track driven by steady, mellow guitar and powerful lyricism. "I couldn't recognize my eyes / I didn't know where I was supposed to stand," he sings of a period of uncertainty in his life. "Me, I'm just hanging with my cowboy band / I guess what I'm saying / It's the folly of man."
The pace picks up on "Come Home," a twangy tune about longing for a place to call home. "My feet start to roam / All I want to do is come home," sings Woxlin, tapping into the secret desire of so many traveling musicians in classic country songs. "You gave me more than songs / Now all I want to do is come home."
Another notable track, "Memory Lane," kicks off with folksy harmonica and Woxlin reminiscing on an old flame from high school. "You promised me you'd never tell no one about our story / And you laughed and said maybe day one we'll become a song," he recollects of their ill-fated relationship. "You always had a way of driving me insane / Even as I walk down this memory lane," offering a relatable and nostalgic reflection.
One-Way Ticket From Earth closes out with the stoic yet hopeful "A Storm Is Coming Closer". "The whippoorwill is singing clear, as it's done for years / Though I strongly fear the end is near," Woxlin sings most haunting, describing the storm clouds gathering on the horizon of his life. He begins to yearn for escape and new beginnings. "I think it's time for us to go / I don't want to hang around when it is red alert / I'd rather stand in line for a one-way ticket from earth."
Jon-Olov Woxlin delivers a beautifully if not sometimes melancholy collection of heartfelt songs on One-Way Ticket From Earth, and it's clear he has a deep well of songs, surely with more to come in 2026.
Listen on Spotify
No comments:
Post a Comment