Mike Bones
With his dark glasses and tattoos, Mike Bones looks like an unlikely world-weary troubadour. 2009 will see the release of his debut UK single, ‘What I Have Left’ (Jan 26th) and solo album, ‘A Fool For Everyone’ (Feb 3rd) via Vice Records.
As you might expect for an artist influenced by latter era Dylan, Cohen and Reed, this 28 year old New Jersey native (based in New York) sounds old beyond his years. Having put his mooted drug problems behind him, Bones is also reborn, in a sense.
For all its delicate craft, the immaculate songwriting that permeates A Fool For Everyone comes tinged with fighting spirit. ‘I’ve been the other man with your wife/Shown many men the business end of a knife’, he spits on One Moment’s Peace. Elsewhere, the single, ‘What I Have Left’ builds to a brilliant crescendo of strings and keys to form a soul-bearing love song that resolves itself in misery.
Having spent years playing for other people in New York, Bones perhaps unintentionally built up his reputation as one of the finest guitarists in the city under his real name, Mike Strallow.
Collaborations and session work has been numerous and plentiful, most notably with the post-everything supergroup Soldiers Of Fortune and Baltimore-based singer/songwriter Cass McCombs.
It took until last year for him to step out as a solo artist, adopting the monicker Mike Bones for the acclaimed The Sky Behind The Sea, placing his guitar playing prowess in the background to allow his lyrics to take centre stage.
It’s a wonder he didn’t strike out on his own sooner, but perhaps what makes Mike Bones so unique is his resolve to beat his own path, however long it takes to find himself. ‘A Fool For Everyone’ is the second chapter on his personal journey and is bound to appeal to anyone who’s a fan of challenging but unflinchingly honest music.