Davy Knowles - If I Should Wander (2023)

If I Should Wander is a watershed work for Davy Knowles. The complete antithesis of his previous album, the Provogue Records debut of 2021, What Happens Next, this solo acoustic outing is not at all the most natural extension of that effort, that is, a looser, more heavily improvisational version of the most tightly arranged and produced record of the artist’s career.

The Isle of Man native has instead opted to write, produce, engineer, and release a set of songs wholly and completely independently. And in direct furtherance of that premise, the ten tracks of If I Should Wander are sequenced in exactly the same order they were written and recorded. This move of Knowles’ is not unprecedented, but in fact provides some continuity with his prior EP, 2017’s 1932, not to mention concerts of recent years that have included segments featuring him alone on stage.

The shadow of mortality hovers over and through “The Only Son.” Yet there’s a tangible sense of liberation therein as well: the cut pulses with quavering emotion grounded in carefully-fingered acoustic guitar work. That paradoxical mix of fear and anticipation finds a quick corollary over the course of “Speak Softly, Tread Lightly:” In both falsetto and his usual tenor, Knowles’ voice cuts to the essence of those contradictory feelings with which he is grappling in writing and performing.

To the man’s great credit, he doesn’t belabor any of the many points he’s consciously and subconsciously attempting to make. But through his days as a solo artist (leading a band or no), he’s never been one to indulge in melodramatic histrionics. While this deceptively modest outing would seem to compensate for the compromises of its immediate predecessor, Knowles takes nothing for granted: his optimism is tempered by experience(s) to which he regularly alludes, though he’s sufficiently savvy to resist sharing in detail.

Consequently, most tracks here boast a duration similar to the three minutes twenty seconds of a track with the appropriate title “Broken Time.” Like the title song that’s even shorter than the average–it sounds like an ancient folk tune–Davy Knowles’ economic performances on If I Should Wander radiate that rare spontaneity of confident immersion in the spirit of the moment.

Thus “Don’t You Think So,” is replete with a quiet abandon. On this single cut, perhaps not so inner-directed as most of these compositions, Knowles sounds absolutely unforgiving not only in his vocal delivery but also in the relentless circularity of the guitar pattern he plays. And in the most obvious instance of the wisdom Davy displayed in formulating this album, he practically defines warmth and comfort during the very next cut “Inside Of A Dream” (a feat he also replicates in “Just The Way The Light Shines”).

Transcending every one of the multiple truisms within the lyrics (printed inside the package), the artist accomplishes something rare and altogether similar during “I Never Had The Heart.” Permeated with a melodic gaiety the words belie, this performance also features singing that bespeaks a sense of deliverance that unites the two conflicting sensations.

“Dream of Better Days,” like “I’m A Stranger,” is so quiet as to suggest Davy Knowles has mastered the use of dynamics as a fine art. Indeed, If I Should Wander represents a profound point of maturity, artistic and otherwise, a milestone simultaneously represented and reaffirmed by the final cut “All In Good Time.”

It’s the conclusion to one of, if not the most moving records of 2023. This album is a rare combination of courage and skill that certainly bodes well for Davy Knowles’ future work, whatever form it may take.