The meaning of a place can change based on tiny shifts in perspective, by returning to a location after time away or by digging into the dirt underfoot. Can music bring these layers together?
One inspiration behind Flamagra, the sixth album by the L.A. musician, was the wildfires in his hometown. It became another opportunity for the musician to reckon with ideas of death and rebirth.
The singer-songwriter's new book is an unconventional rock memoir that doesn't hew to the genre's norms. And like her entire musical catalog, it's honest and original.
Bynum's album features nine musicians, including guitarist Mary Halvorson, a newly minted MacArthur fellow. Each improviser sings the tune — or sings around it — in their own way, in their own time.
The vibrancy of the band can feel childlike and candy-coated. But the group's songs are more about the pain of entering adulthood and leaving some of that sweetness behind.
This week, Big Thief will release its second album of 2019. But Two Hands is a deeper accomplishment than the statistic: It's a record that finally captures the band's audible unconditional closeness.