***The return of Cleveland Ohio's songwriter laureate with the first LP of unreleased music in 13 years. Bill Fox fronted the power-pop band The Mice and won acclaim with solo albums Shelter From the Smoke and Transit Byzantium; his new album Resonance has won national acclaim and been featured in multiple reputable periodicals as a triumphant return to music.
With his first LP since the re-issue of 2017’s Before I Went to Harvard, Bill Fox won international acclaim with 2025’s Resonance (Eleventh Hour Recording Company), a collection of never-before heard tracks that span his career. Sequenced, restored, and remastered into a cohesive statement, Resonance was hailed as “full of sharp lyrics, vivid imagery, crushing confessions, and endearing musical flourishes” (Pitchfork) with tracks such as Terminal Way being “a great example of his knack for McCartney-like pop craftsmanship” (Uproxx).
Known for both his beloved solo releases Shelter From the Smoke and Transit Byzantium as much as his power-pop garage group with brother Tommy in The Mice, Fox has long been admired by fellow musicians and music fans alike who have praised his plainspoken lyricism and melodic instinct. Much like those critically heralded releases, “Resonance is uniformly excellent and presents an ideal entry point for newcomers” (Uproxx).
A study in contrasts: stark acoustic confessionals sit alongside bursts of power-pop energy, Resonance’s fidelity ranges from cassette hiss to studio clarity. Songs like “Lift Your Heads,” and “Meat Factory” showcase Fox’s gift for blending social commentary with timeless melody, while “Wildflower” blooms with Guided By Voice’s Doug Gillard’s acoustic guitar and Karen Golden’s vocal harmony. The closing track, “Got Her on My Mind,” recalls the scrappy verve of The Mice but with the wisdom of a songwriter who has weathered decades on his own terms.
One of the hallmarks of Bill’s music as a whole that helps make Resonance unique is its embrace of imperfection. From the playful outlier “The Biggest Sale” to the lo-fi intimacy of “Desperation,” the LP achieves a balance that feels both fragile and profound; whose beauty lies in its minimalism and flaws, its patchwork textures, and its refusal to chase polish or trends.
Resonance doesn’t just reaffirm Bill Fox’s cult status—it deepens it, carrying forward the hallmarks of Fox's catalog while daringly breaking new ground.
