Philip Bowen’s “Anymore” is a complex recollection of grief; it’s forward-looking, nodding towards the inevitably of future loss. Though it also looks back with a personal reflection from the artist. Bowen recalls his grandparents’ story, and it’s bittersweet in recovering the heart shared between loved ones and the sting of their loss. His savvy fiddling makes the composition—a sprightly tempo graces this sad folk tune with threads of solace and comfort. It finds its sonic roots between Bowen’s Appalachian upbringing in West Virginia, as well as a pop-driven beat that nods to his looming presence on TikTok.
Bowen tells PopMatters, “Just like in the song, I have a gold watch that sits on my desk in my studio. It’s a 50th anniversary watch that my Grandma gave to my Grandpa, and it’s the only thing I have of his since he passed. A few months back, I was writing a song and it just stopped working, and for whatever reason it broke my heart. It felt like the last part of him I had was well and truly gone.”
“Several years earlier, at the funeral for my Grandma, my Grandpa looked over at me and said, ‘I don’t think they’ll ever make ’em like her anymore.’ That line flashed back to me, and so I began writing ‘Anymore’. The song is about the tides of life and how sometimes it doesn’t seem like things will ever get better, or that pain is always on the horizon. This track helped me cope with grief and sadness during a tough time, and I think a lot of people will relate to that feeling.”