Premiere: Fox and Bones wander through ‘A Strange and Wondrous Place’

Time is a concept that feels both certain and impermanent. Biochemical research indicates the crucial role of aging on our cognitive ability to process and perceive time, which often appears to wobble as a tightrope walker high above a crowd of cheering circus goers. Down below, firmly on the ground, we go through the motions of the mundane, perhaps unwittingly forgetting the moments that should matter most. Folk-pop duo Fox and Bones scuffle with their own relationship to and against time, a hand that swings through all facets of their lives, with a new song called “A Strange and Wondrous Place,” premiering today. Their voices shatter and gleam in the sunlight, as they seem to twist fragments of their own excursions as ornaments before packing them away for good.

“Time doesn’t know the shape we’re in,” they sing, braiding up a weathered vine whose tentacles continue to beg for nutrition. As weary as their bodies might be, band members Sarah Vitort and Scott Gilmore sharpen their minds with thick, incisive lyrics that carve into the skin and unearth both the risks of barely living and the hope that it’ll all get better. “It’s all about perspective these days / Don’t let them tell you anything at all / Some people hit the ground running / While others take a lifetime to crawl,” their words fall as raindrops and plop with a thud onto baked, dry earth. In dissecting what it means to be truly alive, and embracing the very ephemeral notion of time itself, the Oregon-based musicians extend a warm, inviting hand.

The video for “A Strange and Wondrous Place” is a ’70s psychedelic adventure, weaving through snow-crusted mountaintops and lush cavernous valleys, and the fragile guitar work magnifies each emotional wallop with sticky barbs. On the song, the duo write to B-Sides & Badlands over email: “‘A Strange and Wondrous Place’ is a reflective and hopeful comment on life in the modern age. We wanted to create a song that lets people know that everything is all right, but also gently reminds us that life is fleeting and that every moment that we spend here really is precious,” they share. “The world we live in really is a strange and wondrous place and we hope that this song reflects the nuance of life in modern times.”

“Life is always dying to begin” rings from the most tortured of chambers, clawing and gasping. Yet Fox and Bones, who are coming off their 2018 studio record Better Land, ultimately arrive at a place of heavenly bliss. There’s a solemn peace that peeks through their finger-pricking harmony work, as if fortune-seers witnessing the dark, swirling clouds finally parting somewhere and someplace far down the line. The makeshift road before them is set with cobbled scars and broken bones, but they pack up their rucksacks and take us along for a marvelous tale of adventure.

“A Strange and Wondrous Place” officially drops on Friday (October 11).

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