Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover’s “Fluorescent Light” + “Boars”

About a year ago, texting a friend, I made a pointed remark about Woody Guthrie's "Jolly Banker," a duplicitous character we all know too well. It felt a bit pretentious to be honest, and now it feels too on the nose, as well. The torch of Guthrie's prescience is much better held by Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover: they made a new album, What of Our Nature, recorded live in a barn in Vermont after a yearlong conversation about Woody's work and life. 

"García Conover, half-Puerto Rican, and Heynderickx, half-Filipina, found themselves with this collection of music about the legacy of colonialism, generational identity, commercialism, and the slippery target of addressing social equity in song."

The timeless sound of tape recording and mentions of crosses, olives, and bombs make this song both ancient and warmly present (warm like a blanket and present like the nightmares we wake up to). I love their mention of marketing, which is a field that Woody's "Jolly Banker" would appreciate, and that the album has a song called "Mr. Marketer," too.

Maybe it's weird how much good folk songs warm my heart these days, but with frost inching toward our neck of the woods by the day, this record's November 21st release date can't come soon enough.