After days of searching for the right song, today I hit the jack pot! This track is quite possibly one of the best pieces of music out there. I can’t remember when a song as personal and raw as this, melted me so quickly.
“Iditarod” is new music from the frontman of Stone Cold Fox. After they announced they were taking a permanent hiatus, Kevin Olken Henthorn began working on a solo project, Cape Francis. This gem is his first release. In his stunner, he switches up his band’s pop tempo and plays a stripped down, folk-driven ballad where his voice cries out alongside haunting back vocals, a piano, and a simple drum beat.
Listen.
Cape Francis-Iditarod
“Let it grow into shape
Let it harden in time
The town I leave tomorrow
Is the town I left behind
Been awhile on the road
I’ll be searching to find
The home I leave tomorrow
Is the home I leave behind
I want to be
Impossibly
Carved from all my failures
But left standing on my feet
For, all I could see
In some Iditarod
With nothing left behind me
I’ll keep pictures to remind me
Feel my armor falling,
I’ve got nothing left
At the core
I am frightened like the rest
In a roaring fire
In a roaring fire
In all that time,
we never got tired of sleeping
Let it come as it goes
Let it burn with the fray
The walls I built beside me
Won’t last this anyway
Let it go and arise
Falling ashes away
The days we live tomorrow
Are not the times we live today
Impossibly
Wholly justified
I saw it then so clearly
Now it’s shattered in my mind
Distant to me, love
Like some Iditarod
Out there it’s beside me
I’ll take pictures,
you can find me
Feel my armor falling,
I’ve got nothing left
At the core
I am frightened like the rest
In a roaring fire
In a roaring fire
In a roaring fire
We’re lying there fast asleep”
Iditarod is an Ingalik Indian word for “distant place”. The song, “Iditarod”, reflects a distant place sonically, but lyrically it holds such a heart-felt closeness and a magnified personal examination. Henthorn explains his inspiration…
“When I wrote it, I had just come off the tail end of a pretty brutal year. My band of 4 years had disbanded, my apartment was broken into and laptop stolen (with several months of new work on it) and it all happened around that fucking election. The song served as a way for me to work through this mental transition and face some things about myself that I had been trying to ignore. I really needed to take the time to look back and reassess.
Another major catalyst for this song was the state of transition in our country. It felt so overwhelming then, and it feels so overwhelming now. I’m ashamed to admit that it really caught me off balance and made me realize that I hadn’t been listening, I hadn’t been paying attention. If this song is about anything, it’s about staying awake and focused in the face of violent transition.”
Despite his introspection and vulnerability, Henthorn reveals a spirit of refreshing optimism and determination. Cape Francis seems to be a beautiful phoenix rising from the ashes of any past frustrations and disappointments. I am deeply moved and will look forward to more.
