Album nine for Minneapolis singer, yogi and retreat guide.
You have to hand it to Mary Bue – her utterly focused mission to make highly personal music that links into her other ventures as a yogi and International Retreat Guide are enviable. Her music combines many styles – classic singer-songwriter sounds imbued with up-tempo raunch and some lovely, memorable tunes. Aimee Mann instantly springs to mind – but Bue’s music is all her own.
This album was heavily influenced by a traumatic carjacking experience which Bue was involved with in 2020. So the theme of resilience of the human spirit is never far away from the songs on this excellent album.
Her solid songwriting skills are supported by a glorious band that accompanies her – Jeremy Yivisaker, guitar; producer Steve Price, Bass; Richard Medek, Drums; Frid Rubin, violin; and Julia Flomberg, cello.
There’s also a real ballsiness to the feel of these songs – Bue knows exactly what she wants from this music and her determination is demonstrated by a really strong collection. Her last four albums have all been made with the help of Kickstarter campaigns – no mean feat in itself. We open with the title track – which begins on some lovely piano playing, before Bue’s gorgeous vocals come in and we then have a stonking bass line to open the song out in fine style.
‘The Wait (Don’t Tell Me)’ has more striking piano tinkling around a lilting tune, with a song pleading with ‘life’ to give her a break. ‘After The Disaster’ has another strong and memorable tune with the keyboards again giving the tune some real strength.
‘Trying To Fight The Wind’ has some lovely edgy, slightly distorted guitar-work over a pulsating drum beat and the recurring gorgeous piano playing. Bue is particularly fascinated by wind – “a power we can’t see. An invisible force that blows down trees, buildings and create massive damage, created by pressure. This song speaks to systematic pressure and the ‘heard it on the wind’ quality of gossip, misapprehension and lies that can run our societal show”, she says. There are a couple of songs, including this one where certain lines from the song are repeated a tad too many times – but it does enforce the message.
The closer ‘Bedding Down With The Deer’ is a gentle and haunting song around a subject that Bue is particularly fascinated by. She sings “I feel safter with the deer, safer than my own damn bed”. It’s a strong, impassioned song, with some lovely string work and is exactly the right choice of song to close the album.
This is a really impressive album, demonstrating a quality of songwriting that’s strong and consistent. Definitely worth checking out.
