Hailing from up the road in Knaresborough, Chris Blackwood is a familiar name to us, but it’s been quite some time since we last checked in with him. Our last interview with the artist was in 2017.

By Graeme Smith

“I actually revisited that old interview recently and it’s strange to see how much I’ve evolved,” Chris says. “Back then, I was very steeped in Dylan’s influence, maybe a little too much, but that’s part of growing as an artist. If you don’t look back and see progress, you’re probably standing still.”

And that evolution can be heard in his recently released single Tantalus. With a warm and enveloping soundscape, Chris has built on the purely acoustic to make something greater. There’s still a Dylan-esque folksiness about it, but also plenty of Northern grit and originality. What intrigued me most, I think, was his use of mythology to tell its story.

“The idea has been brewing for years. Back when I worked in a bar in Manchester, a Greek bartender once told me that mythology wasn’t just storytelling, it was a way of mapping human psychology,” Chris explains. “Zeus as the intellect, Narcissus as ego, Thanatos as the death drive. That idea stuck with me.

“I kept coming back to Tantalus, the tragic figure who stands in a pool of water with fruit hanging just above, forever just out of reach. I realized it was the perfect metaphor for self-sabotage. The protagonist of this song sees the things he wants: love, meaning, connection, but something within him always keeps it just beyond his grasp.”

If the lyrics weren’t narrative enough, the track comes complete with an intimate black and white video which illustrates the subject even more vividly. A tragic figure, smoking cigarettes and drinking alone in front of the telly feels like a modern way of telling the ancient tale.

“The day before the shoot, I had surgery, nothing serious, but I had to be knocked out for it. We shot the video the day after, and I was completely drained,” Chris says of the video. “But that actually helped. Tantalus is a world-weary character, and my exhaustion gave the performance an authenticity I couldn’t have forced. That said, smoking six cigarettes in ten minutes, despite not being a smoker, was probably not what the doctor ordered.”

Tantalus is taken from Chris’s upcoming third album, Tantalus Unbound, set for release 11 April 2025. “At its heart, the album is about breaking free from self-imposed limitations,” he explains. “The protagonist, Tantalus, sees the things he desires but keeps himself from reaching them. The record traces his attempts at liberation—whether he succeeds is up to interpretation.

“I was inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses, how it transforms the mundane into myth. I wanted to do something similar: take these grand, ancient figures and drop them into modern settings. Alcibiades, for example, is set in a Tesco Express. The ordinary can be epic, and vice versa.

“…I genuinely believe this is the best thing I’ve ever created, so I want to give it the platform it deserves.”

I have to agree, and it’s great to have a local artist producing such well-thought-out and compelling work. It’s been so great getting reacquainted with Chris. I certainly won’t be waiting as long to check in with him again!

The second single from the album, Daytime TV, is on its way soon, coming out on 21 March.

Tantalus is out now and you can give it a listen below.