“A love letter to [Will] Boesl’s wife penned amid a myriad of personal and collective challenges, aiming to reassert what is the most important facet of any life.” That’s how we described ‘Next to Me‘, the first single from Will the Whale‘s forthcoming album, Only Things of the Heart Remain. Produced by Bennett Littlejohn (Hovvdy, Katy Kirby), the record intends to show the power of “creative means as a positive force,” as we put it, something apparent on its every aspect, from the searching style which unpicks various knots within Boesl’s own life to the donation of all proceeds to the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) and the links between art and social action this engenders.
Latest single ‘The Way’ is no less sincere in its intentions, a song about honesty and forgiveness written while estranged from close family. “This division taught me an important lesson on reconciliation,” Boesl explains. “Certainty leads to unkindness. Sometimes (most of the time?), we can be in our own way to growth.” But here they commit such a sentiment to an upbeat indie pop rhythm, repurposing the spiritual idea of ‘The Way’ to find a path back towards the mutual rewards of reunion.