Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-10-09
Cooper Kenward released his new album Call Me The Knife today via Soggy Anvil Records.
Across ten songs, Kenward blends fuzzy guitars, ’90s-rock textures, country sway, and quieter acoustic moments into a record that reckons with loneliness, connection, self-doubt, and the strange feeling of trying to make sense of where you are while you’re still moving forward.
The album was recorded with longtime collaborator Rob Shelton at Altamira Studios in Alhambra, California, over six days. Kenward worked with a band of longtime collaborators who learned the songs together in the room, allowing the arrangements to develop naturally and preserving the energy of the group playing together.
The album’s focus track, “Wishbone,” captures much of what makes Call Me The Knife distinctive. A fiddle dances throughout the song, lending it a loose country sway, while a rugged lead guitar sits at the forefront, keeping the track grounded and rough around the edges.
Kenward says: “What is the knife? It’s anxiety. It’s fear. It’s a defensiveness. Anytime things get too close or personal, the knife comes out. It’s protection, but it doesn’t allow for vulnerability. I’m naming the knife so I can get rid of the knife. This is an album about people being in fear and not facing their own reality. It’s owning up to your faults and weaknesses. It’s letting people help you.”
Elsewhere on Call Me The Knife, Kenward explores similar tensions between humor and vulnerability, familiarity and uncertainty, and the desire to reconnect with yourself and the people around you.
The songs feel lived-in rather than polished, with arrangements that leave room for the players’ personalities and the natural energy of the performances.
At its core, Call Me The Knife is a record about connection — to other people, to yourself, and to the strange invisible threads that keep pulling you forward even when you aren’t quite sure where you’re headed.
It is a record about feeling lost without losing your sense of humor, about wanting to become something more while learning to live with simply getting by.
Track Listing:
1. Billy Come Back
2. Bit Better
3. Ya Buddy
4. Sebastopol
5. Through It All
6. Call Me The Knife
7. Darkness On Your Mind
8. Swoon
9. Wishbone
10. Wild Smoke
