The Honey Badgers – The Earth Turns and So Do We
The Honey Badgers are releasing their album The Earth Turns and So Do We on the summer solctice this year in honor of the grief, angst, sorrow and fearfulness that the duo encountered while writing the songs for the album, and in order to symbolically hand these energies over to healing and release. Folk duo and life partners Erin Magnin and Michael Natrin lost significant loved ones during the isolation surrounding the pandemic, the loss and reflection on life cycles and mortality echo all throughout the album.
“She Awakes” sets the tone for the rest of the album, with a slow, winding pattern, scintillating harmonies, and a lyrical depth of consideration of life and mortality: “I was called away by the whisper of snow through the trees… she awakes, stretches her arms to the sky, roots through the earth reaching down… death makes room for life.”
“Looking Forward” identifies that feeling of waiting for things to feel normal again, “hoping I’ll find myself just ’round the bend,” and finishes on the truism “everything changes, and everything ends.” The violin is rich on this song, trading off with the organ at times, in a lovely arrangement. “I’m looking forward to living again.”
“Morning Person” picks up into a bit of a frolicking folk number with deep thought-provoking lyrics: “I’ve loved before and I’ll love again, I’ll disinfect these wounds and try to heal ’em when I can, and remember what I learned from a lover way back when, don’t be afraid to grow and change and bend. She told me: ‘I am not a morning person, but I love to hear the birdsong at daybreak’….”
“Rose of Jericho” has thoughtful plucked strings and a cello and a touch of trumpet to carry you along. “Desiderium” is an instrumental that’s meandering and contemplative.
“Chestnut Hill” takes folk style harmonies, pensive fiddle, and visiting a love one’s final resting place: “I’m going up to Chestnut Hill my dear, to see you in the morning sun, the breeze and the birds still sing your name although your time is done.” “On My Grave” touches this point again and more directly this time “On my grave I will write only one thing: ‘remember not me, nor what I have done, this is an endless race, a game not to win, I will write my own epitaph. forgive all my faults and go on with life, its just a clink of a glass, a roll of the dice… what has lived never dies.'”
Listen to this thoughtful folk album of skilled songwriting on this solstice, dance and shed some tears among the grasses and mourn and celebrate life’s cycles as the seasons turn, and lifetimes ebb and flow.
The Earth Turns and So Do We was produced by Kyle Swartzwelder, Erin Magnin and Michael Natrin; recorded and mixed by Kyle Swartzwelder at Black Forest Sound Studio in Glenside, PA.
Find more information and details on their website here: https://www.honeybadgerfolk.com/
Musicians on the album are Erin Magnin on vocals, violin, guitar, ukulele, harmonium, and synth; Michael Natrin in vocals, guitar, trumpet, mandolin, and harmonica; Skyler Cumbia on vocals;Sharon Bousquet on vocals; Kyle Swartzwelder on bass, electric guitar, B3 organ, mandolin, Wurlitzer, pedal steel; Owen Osborne on percussion; Michael G. Ronstadt on cello; Samuel Nobles on upright bass; and Shelley Kelley on Bodhrán. Group vocals on track 8 & 9 are by Hen Bellman, Skyler Cumbia, Matthew Halley, Em McKeever, Shane Palko, Kyle Swartzwelder; with additional group vocals on 8 by Joe Sharpe.