[Cover photo credit to Sara Haile]
Singer-songwriter Mackenzie Shivers releases her new EP Funeral Singer this week on January 7th on Eilean Donan Records. The 3-track EP “examines a life tender with beauty yet rife with heartache and disruption”.
She reflects:
My first job as a musician was when I was eight, playing original piano compositions at the funeral of a dear friend’s father. With the world often in disarray, I find my job as an artist is to find the beauty and meaning in loss. But it’s not about glossing over something and making it shiny. We can hold space for things that seem like they would be at odds with one another, for both dark and light, and therein lies the magic and complexity of being human.
Like her previous full-length album Rejection Letter, the songs on Funeral Singer were co-produced by friend and frequent collaborator, engineer and producer, Kevin Salem (Rachel Yamagata, Lenka, Emmylou Harris), and features performances by Yuka Tadano on bass and drummer Cody Rahn. The title track also features harmonies by fellow musician, writer, and Bellehouse bandmate Jess Clinton.
Mackenzie Shivers adds regarding the direction of the new EP:
I like to think of goodbyes as transitions. This EP serves as its own transition, going deeper into the sonic world of Rejection Letter and shining a light on what’s to come.
