The Boxer Rebellion 'The Second I’m Asleep': When Survival Becomes Art and Songs Become Shelter
- Stevie Connor
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Stevie Connor | The Sound Cafe | Exclusive
Photo Credit: Ry Cox.
There are bands who soundtrack our lives, and then there are bands who quietly, steadfastly walk beside us through them. For more than two decades now, The Boxer Rebellion have been doing just that: writing music for the hours when the lights are low, the doubts are loud, and the heart is trying to find a way back to itself.
This spring, that journey reaches a new and deeply moving chapter.
After six years away from the long-form album format, The Boxer Rebellion return with The Second I’m Asleep, their seventh studio record, a collection of ten soul-awakening songs that feel less like a release and more like a reckoning. Out on 27 March 2026 via Absentee Recordings, it is the sound of a band not trying to be current, cool, or clever, but trying to be honest.
And honesty, in 2026, feels radical.
The album’s emotional doorway opens with “Hidden Meanings,” a song that unfolds slowly, deliberately, like someone finally finding the courage to say the thing they’ve been avoiding for years.
“I no longer wish you dead…”
In just five words, vocalist and lyricist Nathan Nicholson dismantles the entire architecture of blame. What follows is not an accusation, but a revelation, that sometimes the deepest damage isn’t done by others, but by ourselves.
It’s a devastating image: self-sabotage as arson, grief as something we accidentally keep feeding. Yet the beauty of “Hidden Meanings” lies not in despair, but in recognition, the moment when you realize that naming the wound is the first step toward healing it.
Musically, the song blooms with restrained elegance: atmospheric guitars, patient drums, and a vocal that feels like it’s being held just above breaking point. It doesn’t demand attention, it earns it.
Following the luminous first single “Flowers in the Water,” which reintroduced the band with warmth and colour, “Hidden Meanings” reveals what this album truly is: a map of emotional survival.
The title of the album is quietly brilliant.
That half-dreaming moment, just before consciousness returns — is when our defenses drop. It’s when the mind wanders into honesty. And that is exactly where this album lives.
Recorded during an intense creative burst, The Second I’m Asleep was shaped around one guiding principle:instinct over analysis.
No overthinking. No chasing trends. Just four musicians, Nicholson, Adam Harrison, Piers Hewitt, and Andrew Smith, trusting their connection and letting the songs breathe.
The result is an album that feels unfiltered, vital, and profoundly human. These ten tracks don’t posture or pretend. They sit with grief. They welcome clarity. They let go of ghosts. They understand that in a fast-moving world, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is slow down and listen to your own heart.
And thanks to the craftsmanship of engineers Rees Broomfield, Billy Bush, and Kevin Grainger, the album sounds as rich and expansive as it feels, equally at home pouring through car speakers on a late-night drive or unfurling through audiophile headphones in solitude.
To understand why this record feels so grounded, you have to understand who The Boxer Rebellion have always been.
Formed in 2001 when American-born Nicholson met his British bandmates, the group emerged during one of the most unstable eras in music history, the post-Napster collapse, when the industry didn’t know how to survive.
So they chose to survive on their own terms.
Long before “independent artist” became a branding strategy, The Boxer Rebellion were self-releasing, self-financing, and self-believing. They didn’t wait for permission. They built their own platform. And songs like “Diamonds” found global audiences through television and film, Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Skins, not because they were fashionable, but because they were cinematic in their emotional depth.
Their music has always felt like it belonged to moments when lives were changing.
That truth was powerfully reaffirmed in 2025, when the band returned to the global stage with a stunning performance at Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands, standing before 50,000 people and reminding the world exactly who they are.
Across the UK and Europe, more than 14,000 tickets sold for their headline shows, including a sold-out night at London’s Koko, proof that their connection with audiences has never faded.
Now, they bring this new chapter home.
Their March 2026 UK & EU tour culminates with a celebratory, emotional homecoming at Brixton Electric, 1,500 people, one room, one band, and a new album that feels destined to be sung together.
The Second I’m Asleep doesn’t shout for relevance. It doesn’t chase youth. It doesn’t disguise its scars.
Instead, it offers something far rarer: music for grown hearts.
Music for people who have loved, lost, rebuilt, and kept going anyway.
The Boxer Rebellion have never been louder than when they whisper, and on this album, they whisper truths many of us are only just learning how to say.
This is not just their return.
It is their deepest, bravest work yet.
FOLLOW THE BOXER REBELLION
About the Writer:
Stevie Connor is a Scottish-born polymath of the music scene, celebrated for his work as a musician, composer, journalist, author, and radio pioneer. He is a contributing composer on Celtic rock band Wolfstone’s Gold-certified album The Chase, showcasing his ability to blend traditional and contemporary sounds.
Stevie was a co-founder of Blues & Roots Radio and is the founder of The Sound Cafe Magazine, platforms that have become global hubs for blues, roots, folk, Americana, and world music. Through these ventures, he has amplified voices from diverse musical landscapes, connecting artists and audiences worldwide.
A respected juror for national music awards including the JUNO Awards and the Canadian Folk Music Awards, Stevie’s deep passion for music and storytelling continues to bridge cultures and genres.
Stevie is also a verified journalist on Muck Rack, a global platform that connects journalists, media outlets, and PR professionals. He was the first journalist featured on Muck Rack's 2023 leaderboard. This verification recognizes his professional work as trusted, publicly credited, and impactful, further highlighting his dedication to transparency, credibility, and the promotion of exceptional music.
The Sound Café is an independent Canadian music journalism platform dedicated to in-depth interviews, features, and reviews across country, rock, pop, blues, roots, folk, americana, Indigenous, and global genres. Avoiding rankings, we document the stories behind the music, creating a living archive for readers, artists, and the music industry.
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