My bubba, 'Letter' (Live At Pickathon)

My Larsdotter and Guðbjörg Tómasdóttir are the Scandinavian duo My bubba. At Pickathon, the Portland, Ore. roots festival in August, the women played their hushed folk songs at the Lucky Barn, a shady, intimate space that hosts the festival's softer sets. It's a fitting venue for the kind of performance that, like this rendition of "Letter," invites you to perk up your ears and listen closely.

In an interview following their performance, the two women explain the impulse behind Big Bad Good, the album from which "Letter" is taken. With producer Shahzad Ismaily, My bubba combined the processes of writing and recording. "We wanted to explore the quality a song has when it's newborn, when you just wrote it," Larsdotter says. And while this Lucky Barn set wasn't the first time the duo had ever played "Letter," it feels like the artists are still investigating their song's corners. Larsdotter's phrasing and Tómasdóttir's guitar picking feel measured but purposeful, confident yet intriguingly tentative.

SET LIST

• "Letter"

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