Recommended If You Like: The National Parks, The Morning Yells
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Dreamy warm folk music has a special tendency to whisk us away, and The Minnesota Child’s music is no exception. The band’s evocative new single “Stay with Me” is a luscious, earthy and uplifting exploration of struggle and hope, perseverance and recovery.
You speak I listen
Every end a new beginning
Deep breath swallowing the sun
Heart beats pulse quickens
Can’t recall what I’ve been missing
Sitting here until the day is done
Listen: “Stay with Me” – The Minnesota Child
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/349573743?secret_token=s-KmXi3″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Stay with Me,” the latest single off The Minnesota Child’s upcoming (and first full-band) EP, Fireflies (independently out 2/1/2018). The pseudonym for Oakland, CA-based musician Ethan Buckner, The Minnesota Child’s heartland folk pop sound is reminiscent of LA’s The Morning Yells and Utah’s The National Parks (an Atwood favorite). But finding yourself in good company is not enough: The Minnesota Child stands out with a dazzling array of finely-executed harmonies and mesmerizing, poetic imagery.
Through some sort of musical magic, “Stay with Me” is a love song, a song of struggle, and a song of acceptance: From the heart, to the heart.
And the river falls
Like our shadows in the sand
And the trees stand tall
As the water meets the land
Oh won’t you stay here stay with me
Like the ocean to the breeze
Oh won’t you stay here stay with me
And I will love you, love you, love you
Endlessly
“Even though I don’t write many explicitly political songs, much of the music I do write touches on themes of finding hope in hard times, finding resilience through struggle, finding purpose in life, etc,” shares Ethan Buckner. “I’m hoping my music can help provide inspiration and support for people dealing with the really challenging times we’re in on a personal and collective level.”
Back behind the city sleeping
Out beyond the ocean sweeping
Ships into the starry evening skies
Deep breath hands holding
Let’s jump in the waves unfolding
Brave new worlds before our very eyes
And the river falls
Like our shadows in the sand
And the trees stand tall
As the water meets the land
Folk music fits a feeling for every day of the week, but The Minnesota Child’s sound feels extra specila this Friday, whose political and cultural moment is particularly rife with contention as an American government shutdown looms and millions of DREAMers, who are every bit a member of these United States but for their lack of legal status, face deportation. Turning our attention away from the news, if only for a brief respite of folk warmth, can be so hard to do without impending feelings of guilt or doom – but for a second, we can melt away the litany of issues facing our world, and bask in the joy and sorrow of a song.
Stay tuned for more from The Minnesota Child, whose full Fireflies EP comes out in just two weeks! Those in the Bay Area can catch the group live at their release show on 2/1/2018 at the Great American Music Hall (tickets here).
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photo © Lara Aburamadan
