Violinist MorganEve Swain, half of the critically acclaimed husband and wife duo Brown Bird, found her life forever changed in 2014 when her husband, David Lamb, passed away from leukemia. “[Lamb] saw some musician in me that I hadn’t realized was there,” she says. “So when he passed away, musically, it was like ‘Am I anything without him as a writer?’ Do I try to be who he thought I was, or do I give that up and get a job at a bank?”

She came to a devastating realization. “I might not ever have that kind of love again. I might not ever have a band like that again. I might never have a life like that again.”

Swain’s personal crisis resolved in her new music project, The Huntress and Holder of Hands, named after a lyric in the last Brown Bird album, 2015’s Axis Mundi. Her new album, Avalon, is due out September 15th. It’s a cathartic album weighted heavily with Swain’s monotone yet emotive vocals.

Swain aimed not for pain on Avalon, but for release and moving on. “I tried, I maybe failed at this but I tried really hard to not make it an album all about grief,” she says. “I didn’t want it to be like… ‘Fuck, none of us can listen to this because it’s so fucking sad.’ This is just how I’m dealing with stuff now.”

Swain’s aim for her debut album as The Huntress and Holder of Hands initially was catharsis. “The first three songs I wrote were in the first three months after he passed, and that was like, ‘What would Dave be doing right now, if our roles were reversed?’” The album was simply part of her grief process. “I demoed it without having any intention of what it would become.”

Still, she worked at Avalon, the first album she has written entirely by herself. And with a handful of dates under her belt, her album release party is slated for the Common Fence Music Series, at the nonprofit Hope & Main in Warren, Rhode Island. Swain describes herself as “not a leader,” but is falling into the role seamlessly. Though perhaps with a little help. She credits the first spurt of her songwriting: “Thanks Dave. I hear you.”

Want to hear what’s on Swain’s playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify channel to hear. While you’re there, take a listen to what other musicians we’ve profiled have in their earbuds.

MorganEve Swain–musician, The Huntress and Holder of Hands
Warren, Rhode Island
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Top image, David Lamb and MorganEve Swain as Brown Bird, images by Mikael Kennedy, courtesy of MorganEve Swain

The post From Grief, Music appeared first on Take Magazine.

For Keith Souza, the idea for a hybrid recording studio and art gallery just made sense. And thus, Machines with Magnets, a recording studio and small, independent arts and performance space, was born.

Like many creative communities, the art and music scene here are very much intertwined. It’s rare that an art opening isn’t accompanied by a musical performance, and many musicians today are inspired by or incorporate elements of visual or performance art into their work. “Many of our permanent art pieces in the performance space and gallery were made by people we’ve recorded. We’ve also featured many artists in the gallery that have either performed or recorded here,” said Souza.

Machines with Magnets live room

Located in the city of Pawtucket in Rhody, Machines with Magnets is housed in a space with very few parallel surfaces, making it great for acoustics. “I think one thing that sets us apart from other studios is the space itself,” said Souza, “the building is very unique.” With thirty-two channels running to the performance space and enough high-quality equipment where it doesn’t feel like the sound is being compromised anywhere, whether they’re tracking or mixing, they’re able to do studio quality recordings of live shows.

“We like to incorporate the sound of our rooms in our recordings rather than always relying on synthetic space,” said Souza. “Each room has its own distinct characteristics and that comes across in our recordings.”

Machines with Magnets Gallery

Souza and Co-Chief Engineer and Producer, Seth Manchester, who have been working together for well over a decade, are just scientific enough in their approach to recording which, paired with their experience and work ethic, causes Machines with Magnets to stand out from the crowd. “We care about quality and we’re not afraid to think unconventionally. I’d like to think we have a good aesthetic,” said Souza. They book quality, see-them-here-first shows, 2016 has been very busy for the studio. In addition to a slew of local talent, artists from New York City, Washington D.C., Portland, Austin, Columbia, Brazil, England, Japan, and Serbia, have paid the space a visit this year. The recent addition of a cocktail bar completes the evening of fun trifecta.

“Looking forward to the rest of this year and early next year, we’re planning on making records with Tigue (a percussion ensemble from NYC), MorganEve Swain from Brown Bird’s new project The Huntress, Way Out, the Volcano Kings, and Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores,” said Manchester.

On the gallery side, the space most recently hosted a fundraiser for the Providence-based GRIN Contemporary Gallery and prior that that, an exhibition titled “Playpen: New Works by Vamba Bility and Fernando Pezzino.”

For more about Machines with Magnets, visit their Website, Facebook, or twitter handles: Shows and Studio.

Top image courtesy Machines with Magnets

The post Attracted to Machines with Magnets appeared first on Take Magazine.