Photo Credit: Tomm Morton
Trying to fix the world is an admirable ambition. Realising you can’t carry all of it might be an even more important one. On ‘Chasing Dreams’, Cam Cole takes that realisation and turns it into hard-driving blues-rock, swapping the weight of problems beyond his control for a deceptively simple philosophy: you chase your dreams, I’ll chase mine, and perhaps becoming better individually is one way of making things better collectively.
The idea emerged from a period when Cole found himself attempting to absorb too much of the world around him. “I was trying to solve all the problems of the world and taking them on and getting swallowed up by it,” he explains. The answer wasn’t indifference, but a change in scale. Rather than attempting to fix everything, ‘Chasing Dreams’ argues for concentrating on the life immediately within reach.
There’s something fitting about Cole delivering that message. His own career has been built through an unusually independent pursuit of exactly what interested him, beginning with busking on the streets of Camden before growing into sold-out international shows and millions of streams.
Musically, ‘Chasing Dreams’ moves with similar determination. A driving four-on-the-floor rhythm pushes forward beneath vintage guitar tones and Cole’s familiar blues grit. It feels less like contemplating a dream than actively running towards one.
Yet the track also represents a changing version of Cam Cole. Taken from forthcoming album Lost In Creation, due 30 October, ‘Chasing Dreams’ emerges from sessions that saw Cole expand beyond the raw one-man-band approach that established him. His Farmer Footdrums and guitar were still captured simultaneously, preserving the physical immediacy of his performances, but those recordings became foundations for a wider palette of sounds, guest vocals and unusual instrumentation.
“We started experimenting and painting around it with different vibes and sounds,” Cole says, explaining that the musicians became “lost” in the creative process in the best possible sense.
‘Chasing Dreams’ is particularly interesting because Cole didn’t initially recognise it as a standout. What began as simply a strong demo gradually became one of his favourite tracks from the record. That evolution mirrors the broader philosophy of Lost In Creation: allowing music to lead somewhere unexpected rather than controlling every destination.
For an artist whose path has stretched from Camden pavements to international stages, television appearances and major soundtrack placements, the message could easily have become a victory lap. Instead, ‘Chasing Dreams’ remains refreshingly grounded. It isn’t really about achieving the dream. It’s about giving yourself permission to pursue it without feeling responsible for everything else at the same time.
Sometimes changing your corner of the world begins by accepting that it’s the only corner you were ever supposed to carry.
