Photo courtesy of T. Cannon Media
Following a move from their North Carolina home, violinist Peter Blackwelder and frontman Taylor Borsuk formed the folk duo Skin & Bones. Their humble beginnings saw them busking on Venice Beach to make their ends meet. Now, they’re set to release their debut full-length, Shadowboxing, on 15 June. Featuring simple and lively instrumentation melding with heartfelt stories just as carefully delivered, this newfound band is sure to dig their roots deep into the modern folk world with ease.
Their song, ‘Sending Love From Mars’, tends to readily imply such implications. It’s a relaxed folk tune that appeals to the heart from its opening moments.
Borsuk tells For Folk’s Sake, regarding the positive tune, “We thought about cutting ‘Sending Love from Mars’ from the record to make it fit on vinyl better, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and I’m really glad we didn’t. I think the song has a concise message about communication that is really meaningful to me. I hope its relatable for other people as well.”
On Shadowboxing, he says:
The album was recorded in Nashville at the Bomb Shelter. So much incredible music has come out of that studio that I was drawn to. This record is the first time we’ve worked with a producer. Jon Estes, at the Bomb Shelter, did a great job of bringing the best out of the songs. ??We made the decision to record to analog, mainly because I love how human it is, with all of its raw imperfections and warmth. We also cut all of the bed tracks live, which was a blast. We really got to feel the energy and feed off of each other. I hope that people can feel it when they listen to the record.
I transitioned from fingerpicking to doing a lot more strumming with the guitar, which inspired vastly different songs. I didn’t realize that something so small could change the way I write so much. The sound has gotten more mature. I think this record has a lot more weight to it.