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| Will Knox by Liz Van Den Akker |
Will Knox has a knack for weaving entire worlds with just a few words and chords. Originally from London, Will’s journey took him to the US at 18, where he honed his craft at Berklee College of Music. Now based in the Netherlands, he’s evolved into an award-winning songwriter, boasting five Buma Awards and one ASCAP award, with songwriting credits on tracks that have amassed over 1 billion streams. After spending 2023 in the studio with producer Ian Grimble, Will's fourth full-length album, English Silence, was released in September 2024
We had the chance to catch up with Will and discuss English Silence, a rousing a storied album with luxuriously comforting atmospheres.
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NT: Hello, Will! Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. How do we find you today?
WK: My pleasure, I'm very well, thank you.
NT: Your new album English Silence captures deeply personal themes like fatherhood and healing. How did becoming a father shape your songwriting process, and how do you navigate the balance between personal growth and creative vulnerability?
WK: Becoming a father made me ask myself more questions about the person I was and wanted to be, knowing how much my son will be affected by the decisions I make. I don't think fatherhood affected my songwriting process, but obviously it changed the themes I was talking about. Perhaps it made me a little more direct, less metaphorical, but that is also something I have been working on over the years.
Personal growth and creative vulnerability are obviously linked, and you can't escape that. The only time it feels like a problem is when you want to protect people from the truth you want to tell in your songs, I can't imagine how it must feel hearing someone else singing about things you have done or said. So I try to keep that in mind, but you cannot escape your truth, and I think art/music suffers when you dilute it too much.
NT: You’ve worked with notable producers and co-writers like Emma Bale and Ian Grimble. How do collaborations impact the personal themes of your music—do they challenge or enhance your introspective songwriting?
WK: I'm so grateful to all the collaborators on this record. They have absolutely enhanced my writing and the record as a whole. Any time someone questions my decision making process, or I see how someone else translates their inspiration I feel like I'm growing. I noticed on a personal level however that there are times when I will lean on an opinion for validation, and that is something I am currently trying to step away from as an artist.
NT: The album addresses themes like healing and growing pains. Do you believe that art has a responsibility to be a healing force for both the creator and the audience, or is it more about honest expression, regardless of its impact?
WK: I don't think art itself has any responsibilities. Perhaps an artist has responsibilities depending on the context, but people create art for thousands of reasons, and interpret it in thousands of ways. Of course it is a wonderful by-product that art & music are such strong forces for healing, joy and inspiration.
NT: In English Silence, you seem to unearth a lot of unresolved feelings and childhood experiences. What role does silence play in your creative process, and do you view it as a source of discomfort or inspiration?
WK: Again it depends on the context. The album title is a reference to using silence as a form of protection. If I say nothing, nothing can be used against me. Silence therefore is a safe place for me, and obviously it helps while working on lyrics to be able to hear yourself think.
NT: Some say all art is inherently political, even in its most personal form. Do you agree with this sentiment, and how do you think your music might intersect with the broader social and political landscape?
WK: I agree with Skunk Anansie in that "everything's political". The songs on this album are obviously more personal, rather than directly criticising government policy, but there's a lot about codependence and mental health in my lyrics, which I'm glad is starting to be recognised and talked about more in society. Perhaps if we start to put more focus on mental health in policy it would be easier to treat addiction, crime, disease at their root causes.
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| The cover of Will Knox's fourth album, English Silence. |
NT: Twentysomething captures a sense of being lost in one’s twenties. With the benefit of hindsight, how would you advise your younger self, or perhaps listeners going through that phase now?
WK: I would advise myself to seek therapy sooner and begin working on myself, particularly around self-confidence, relationships and how I communicated with people. We're all affected by our past in one way or another, so if you feel like something isn't quite right but you can't figure out why, I think it's always good to talk to someone.
NT: As someone who has written for other artists and had success with over a billion streams, how do you differentiate between the songs you keep for yourself and those you share with others?
WK: Generally I would say I tell my stories and they tell theirs. My job when writing with others isn't to make them sing my song, it's to help pull the stories out of them. Of course you will have crossovers with your life experiences, but I don't think I have any songs I have written for myself that I have given to someone else to sing.
NT: You’ve mentioned that songwriting allows you to communicate feelings you struggle to express in real life. Do you think music is a form of therapy for you, and how does that influence the emotional texture of English Silence?
WK: Music and lyric writing is absolutely a form of therapy for me, and that's what has resulted in such a personal record. I think it has made the record a bit melancholic, and generally peaceful. But there are moments of anger, sadness and frustration that inevitably come out in that process and add some emotional spikes, which musically keeps the record interesting.
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