Foxes in Fiction - Shadow’s Song

The life of Warren Hildebrand sounds like a dream in some senses. When he’s not making music or rummaging through retro electronic gear, he’s co-running the Orchid Tapes label, a project that’s experienced something of a rush in attention thanks to its recent Alex G ‘DSU’ LP and ‘Boring Ecstasy’ compilation. It’s not necessarily a life that involves countless funds and all the riches a guy can ask for, but it sounds more fulfilling than the average existence.

‘Shadow’s Song’, however - and new album ‘Ontario Gothic’ as a whole - reveals the side to Hildebrand’s life that he could have chosen not to detail: Grief. The record deals with Warren’s journey post-2008, following the death of his younger brother. Songs were put together over a three-year period, with this lead number featuring Owen Pallett on violins. Somehow ‘Shadow’s Song’ manages to express itself in both a positive and touching form; there’s a sense of escape and a sense of being weighed down in equal parts. It’s an undeniably beautiful song, but it’s one that doesn’t strictly sum up Hildebrand’s journey - it can be applied to anyone’s life, however fractured.