Crafting a moving folk sound from the English countryside, Wiltshire-based songwriter and producer Gus White enamors with new single “After So Long.” The release is a stirring final preview of his forthcoming debut album, For Now, Anyway — out on November 14th. The single’s production features a richly textured sense of momentum, enamoring with a deeply human element — here referring to a specific performance in November 2024 that made a strong impact on White.
During that show, an audience member’s faint sobs revealed the true reach of his music, in addition to a general outpouring of support. “Everyone turned up to show their support, and it really knocked me for six,” White explains. “For the first time in my life, I realised that I had true supporters, that there was a genuine need for my music.”
“After So Long” unfolds with a triumphant, high-soaring feeling. Percussion glides into warming guitar tones, strummed with a folk-friendly familiarity as twangy textures and a more subdued disposition take hold into the vocal emergence. “I imagine you in my passenger seat,” White’s vocals let out, as the faint presence of an underlying organ bolsters the slowly unraveling guitar and rhythmic interplay.
“Quality time, with you in my mind, is not good for me,” he continues into a rousing expanse. “There’s nothing to say, after so long,” White’s cathartic delivery continues, then reprising the opening guitar movements with spine-tingling precision. “After So Long” is a gripping piece of songwriting, consuming in both its more stripped-down folk introspection and moments of replay-inducing ardor. We’re now certainly anticipating next month’s release of For Now, Anyway.
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This and other folk tracks featured on Obscure Sound can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Indie Folk’ Spotify playlist.
