MorganEve Swain, half of the husband-and-wife duo Brown Bird, returns with The Huntress And The Holder Of Hands, issuing the band’s debut album, Avalon, on Sept. 15. A teaser featuring clips of new music can be found here.
“I had a very conscious realization that either I start writing my own music or I never touch music ever again,” Swain says of her decision to return to music following the passing of her musical partner and husband Dave Lamb. “It seemed totally black-and-white to me. I thought, ‘If I don’t do this now, and if too much time passes, I’ll never do it.’
Just as Brown Bird was taking flight, with a handful of acclaimed albums, nonstop touring, and a star-making performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Lamb was diagnosed with leukemia. Though the year-long ordeal that followed was full of incredible support and unwavering hope, he succumbed in April 2014, gone far too soon at 36, leaving Swain on her own to carry a torch for the duo’s brief but enduring legacy.
“It’s definitely a departure from what Brown Bird was doing,” she continues. “But it’s important to me to keep Brown Bird part of it, at least for now. I’m still very anxious to keep Brown Bird in people’s ears.”
Swain sings, plays viola, guitar, bass and ukelele in the The Huntress of the Holder of Hands. Rounding out the line-up are Emily Dix Thomas (cello/vocals), Liz Isenberg (double bass/vocals), James Maple (drums) and Spencer Swain (electric bass/violin).
Avalon track list:
Shadow of the Hunted
Borealis
Call to Arms
My Kingdom
Severed Soul
Ètude
The Source
Shake Off Your Flesh
These Hands
Creatures in Flight
While the band will be announcing a national tour soon, they have a trio of Northeastern dates in the coming weeks:
July 27 Providence, RI Burnside Park Summer Series
August 3 Greenfield, MA Root Cellar
August 4 Portland, ME Space Gallery
