Beautifully raw and achingly tender, Fortunate Ones’ new song “Anchor” is a warm, harmony-laced blanket of love and connection, companionship and togetherness.
Stream: “Anchor” – Fortunate Ones
‘Anchor’ is a four-minute lifetime — a reflection on what was, what is, and what will be.
“It wasn’t that long ago you pushed through the door and came in from the cold,” sing Newfoundland’s Fortunate Ones on their stirring new song. “We were killers of time back then, now we’re sitting here wondering where that time went.” Life is long and time can be cruel, but love is the gift that keeps on giving, through thick and thin, sickness and health, the good and the bad, richer and poorer. Beautifully raw and achingly tender, “Anchor” is a warm, harmony-laced blanket of love and connection, companionship and togetherness. Bridging the sweet and the bittersweet, it’s an ode to be there for one another, forever and always.
It wasn’t that long ago you pushed through
the door and came in from the cold
We were killers of time back then
Now we’re sitting here wondering where that time went
We were young enough then not to care
I was drunk on the sound of you climbing the stairs
I think we should plant some seeds
and finally start growing that family tree
Little sunlight and love you’ll see
We’ll fill these halls with the sweetest of leaves
One part you and then one part of me
That’s a place that I think we should be
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Anchor,” the latest single off Fortunate Ones’ forthcoming third studio album, That Was You and Me (out June 3, 2022 via Sonic Records). The Juno Award nominated, Canadian Folk Music Award winning duo of Catherine Allan and Andrew James O’Brien, Fortunate Ones make music that warm the heart and stir the soul. Through seven years, two studio albums (2015’s The Bliss and 2018’s Hold Fast) and one EP (2016’s All Will Be Well), Fortunate Ones have enchanted and inspired through vulnerable songwriting, catchy melodies, and an enchanting blend of folk rock and folk pop sound.
That Was You and Me will be the pair’s first album in over four years, and touches on themes of loss, grief, life, and overarching love. The record’s soothing lead single “Day to Day” affirmed all these themes upon its release last month, with a story of “learning to find my way, own the mistakes I’ve made,” and finding “some meaning in the day to day.” The narrator’s partner is a presence throughout the story, and while they are not the prime focus of this particular song, their existence is nevertheless intrinsic to the song’s premise and the world Fortunate Ones create in their vivid storytelling lyrics.
In contrast, “Anchor” takes on the notions of love and partnership head-on in a soft, intimate outpouring of poetic warmth and wonder. Allan and O’Brien spill their hearts in a beautifully moving chorus:
Love is a river
It’s gonna run
Time is a sea that drowns everyone
I can’t swim sweetheart, you be the line
I’ll be the anchor now, all in good time
“‘Anchor’ is a four-minute lifetime — a reflection on what was, what is, and what will be,” Fortunate Ones tell Atwood Magazine. “It is an earnest and assured declaration that, through it all, we’ve had and will always have each other. ‘You and me sailing out on the sea / You and me sailing / It’s where we should be / I know you can see.’”
If memory begins to fade and all of our history starts slipping away
Reach for a photograph of a time out of mind when I still made you laugh
It breaks my heart that our time has to pass
But if this ship’s going down then tie me to the mast
Love is a river
It’s gonna run
Time is a sea that drowns everyone
I can’t swim sweetheart, you be the line
I’ll be the anchor now, all in good time
Recorded live at the English Harbour Arts Centre in Newfoundland, Fortunate Ones’ “Anchor” video gives audiences a deeper understanding of the connection these two share. Sitting just a few feet apart with only their instruments and recording gear in-between, Catherine Allan and Andrew James O’Brien bring their love to life, looking into one another’s eyes and singing gently, tenderly, of the lifetime they’re already shared together, and the one that lies ahead. “Love is a river, it’s gonna run,” they affirm. “Time is a sea that drowns everyone. I can’t swim sweetheart, you be the line, I’ll be the anchor now, all in good time…“
Time will tell just how many weddings and couples claim this tune as their own. With so much vulnerability and raw connection on full display, “Anchor” may be the sweetest love song released this year. Stream Fortunate Ones’ new single exclusively on Atwood Magazine.
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Stream: “Anchor” – Fortunate Ones
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