David Norbery’s understated turn as Sisterwife has been something of a sea change for the singer-songwriter, especially given the relentless eclecticism of his most well-known project Nomen Novum. That sense of transformation is given further articulation on “Winter of a Skull,” the latest single from his forthcoming self-titled debut. Blending pensive indie folk musings with warm country and Americana, the song is a quiet revelation.
Appropriately, the song is in part about metamorphosis, but also about the terror of standing alone in the world. “Leave behind your body / like a snake will do its skin,” Norbery sings, and there is certainly wisdom in that call for adaptation and evolution. But elsewhere amidst the song’s graceful push and pull, there is death: “Bury you in driftwood / marry coral to your bones.” It’s some of Norbery’s most beautiful songwriting, particularly the passages where the full band joins in and the music swells gently into a rolling wave. Yet, as Norbery himself notes, beauty itself does not negate darkness and destruction.
“It’s the oldest song on the record,” he explains. “I wrote it at least five years ago, though I’ve reworked it a lot since then. I always liked it but felt it belonged to another project, and that turned out to be Sisterwife. I was just trying to convey a general sense of desolation, and of being alone in a nature that does not yield to humans. Elements we see as beautiful can also forsake and destroy us. There’s definitely an elemental theme running throughout the tape—the sun, the sea, iron, salt, blood, bones, fire, smoke, ash, dust, etc. Traces of people left in nature, traces of nature left in people.”
Listen below.
The Sisterwife EP is out Sept. 15 on cassette and digital via via Past Now Tomorrow. Pre-orders are available here.
Sisterwife will celebrate the release of his self-titled EP tomorrow night at the EARL alongside Sister Sai, Mirth of Moon, and Brainworlds. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $8. 21= to enter.
More Info
Web: sisterwifesongs.com
Bandcamp: sisterwifesongs.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @sisterwifesongs
SoundCloud: @sisterwifesongs