Willem James Cowan – “Back to the City”
From London, ON, indie folk artist Willem James Cowan has just released “Back to the City,” a song about how painful memories can reshape a place, replacing earlier comfort with a lingering sense of loss.
“Back to the City” is a sparse, intimate folk tune that uses a minimal arrangement to mirror its emotional weight. Performed in a single take, Cowan relies on his voice and a softly strummed acoustic guitar to capture the feeling of returning to a hometown, only to realize you’ve outgrown the version of yourself that once lived there.
Over its duration, “Back to the City” introduces some subtle ambient swells that expand its atmosphere, while still holding tightly to its underlying vulnerability. For those of us who dread returning for the holidays or the occasional class reunion, this song is an exceptional addition to the soundtrack of the reluctant journey home.
Cowan explains that “Back to the City” is about “the feeling you get when you return to a place that you called home for so long, but now feels completely foreign… I still remember the lingering anxiety and dread that would well up inside me as I drove past the apartment buildings that line the Gardiner Expressway.”
“Back to the City” arrives ahead of Cowan’s LP, What Should Happen Next?, due out at the end of the summer. Connect with the artist here: Instagram | Spotify | Apple Music | Facebook | TikTok | Bandcamp
Find this song and others like it in Songs at the end of the world: