Jon Allen releases a new album that reflects how he feels right now
With his unmistakable gravel-edged voice and a songwriting style rooted in classic rock, Americana, folk and soul, Jon Allen has spent nearly two decades quietly building a career on songs made to last.
His seventh studio album, The Wolves Are Running, is released today, when the world seems increasingly difficult to tune out. Across ten songs, Allen turns his attention to uncertainty, division, disillusionment and the search for meaning in a world that feels increasingly fragmented and unstable.
Photo Credit: Ben Silver
“Like all of my albums, this one is a snapshot of how I’m feeling at a particular point in my life. There’s a lot of noise out there at the moment and the world feels less stable and more polarised. At the same time, we’re all just trying to get through each day and find meaning and joy where we can. As I’ve got older and learnt more about the way the world really works, I’ve found it harder to believe some of the stories I used to tell myself. I think we all need stories to give us a sense of meaning and belonging in the world, and yet increasingly we seem to have become rootless and disconnected from each other. Some of these songs are looking at that disconnected, confusing world, some are much more personal, but there’s a common thread of trying to make sense of things, or sometimes just wanting to switch off for a while.”
That tension runs throughout the record. The dark, driving title track looks at a world of division, algorithms and collapsing certainties, while “Asleep at the Wheel” finds Allen contemplating the temptation simply to disengage from it all. “Why Can’t We Dance” turns the lens back on ourselves, questioning whether self-consciousness and overthinking have robbed us of some of our spontaneity. “The Guru”, meanwhile, takes a satirical swipe at the new breed of online self-help sages promising to solve our every problem and bring meaning to an increasingly secular age.
Musically, however, The Wolves Are Running is anything but downbeat. Drawing on the records that first made Allen want to write songs, it moves through roots rock, blues, Americana and soul with an emphasis on feel, melody and character. The blues-rock swagger of “Roll The Dice” sits alongside the eerie, slightly kitsch Farfisa organ of “Asleep at the Wheel”, while elsewhere the album moves from intimate ballads to loose, full-blooded rock ’n’ roll.
Rather than offering easy answers, The Wolves Are Running captures the contradictions of trying to navigate uncertain times: wanting to understand the world while sometimes wanting to escape it, questioning the stories we use to make sense of our lives while still searching for meaning, connection and reasons to keep moving forward.
