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Sep 21, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Wes Proffitt

Tomorrow, Louisville-based singer/songwriter Shadwick Wilde is set to return with his new album, Forever Home. Produced by Nashville drummer Ken Coomer (formerly of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco), the record is his first solo album in twelve years. Following his 2010 solo debut, Unforgivable Things, Wilde formed the indie folk outfit Quiet Hollers. He has spent the ten years since working at a breakneck pace, returning most recently with the band’s 2022 effort, Forever Chemicals.

Forever Home was written in the same burst of creativity that birthed Forever Chemicals, but this release finds Wilde in a deeply personal and often existentialist mode. Yet, Wilde also taps into his spontaneous side thanks to Coomer’s contributions, with the producer pushing Wilde to record live and with minimal takes. The result is an album that marries vulnerability with magnetic performances, offering an easy, sun-lit varnish to Wilde’s lyrics. Wilde has already shared a trio of new singles from the record, “Easy Rider,” “Without You,” and “Floating Away,” and today he’s back with an early listen to the album’s title track, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Forever Home” ends off the album in a reflective mode, with Wilde accompanied by swaying guitars, gentle percussion, and a buzzing synth solo. The track feels like a sweet slow-dance confessional, pairing Wilde’s unvarnished sentimentality with hints of melancholic wistfulness. For Wilde, it is both a promise of lifelong fidelity and an apology for all the times he falls short while navigating the complexities of family and living on the road. He sings, “You’re my forever home / I think I’ve always known / As long as I’m blood and bone / I’ll always come home to you / But if you should ever find there’s a better home for you / I would burn all to the ground so you can start anew.”

Wilde says of the track, “For me, ‘Forever Home’ is about the desire to be able to live in two worlds, which of course we cannot do.

I want to be at home with my partner and our beautiful child, surrounded by nature, away from the ugliness of our crumbling society. But I also want to be out in it, seeing it all— the beauty, the grime— rock and roll clubs, loud music, sweaty, imperfect humanity. I have been trying to find a way to do both. It’s hard to find balance. Sometimes I do want to burn it all to the ground, start fresh— leave the wanderer’s life. But the pull is strong.

Also, I want to mention the Stylophone solo. Maybe my favorite moment on the record. Sarah gave it to me as a gift— she has supported me so much, and I know how hard it is sometimes. I wanted to acknowledge all of that sacrifice, compromise. And to leave the door open, in case it ever gets too hard.”

Check out the song below. Forever Home is out everywhere tomorrow, September 22nd via Sofaburn Records.