Light-as-air rural rock ‘n’ roll. The forthcoming album from Zoe Boekbinder gets an early boost with this lead single.
Release Date: 2nd February 2024
Label: Are and Be Recordings
Formats: Digital
As with many non-binary people, Zoe Boekbinder likes to be referred to in the plural. Although the two scientists who raised them only owned a handful of tapes and CDs, Zoe grew up singing to themself. Boekbinder’s career started in 2005 when they formed a band with their sibling, Max. The two toured and recorded together under the name Vermillion Lies until 2009, when Boekbinder released their first solo album, Artichoke Perfume. That was also the year that Boekbinder started volunteering, teaching music workshops, inside a maximum security prison.
Boekbinder’s songs tend to reflect the life they are living and the people in it. In 2020, along with the Prison Music Project collective and Ani DiFranco, they released a record consisting of songs by writers they worked with inside the prison. That album is called Long Time Gone and was released on Righteous Babe Records in June 2020. In 2021, Boekbinder moved to the countryside. They are surrounded by red-tailed hawks, families of foxes, forests, and the startling silence of Northeastern winter.
Their forthcoming album, Wildflower (scheduled for release on 26th April) is Boekbinder’s first since their 2018 offering, Shadow, and is a product of this new peaceful life and the solitude that comes with it. Some songs were written by the woodstove or while perched on an old rock wall, while others tagged along from years before, finally finding a home in this collection. Other than Zoe (who is non-binary), this album was created by women. All the performers, the engineers, the producer, and everyone else on the team are women. Boekbinder funded this subversive creation through a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
For Hold My Hand, Zoe is joined by Megan McCormick, who plays some refreshing, vibrant guitar, Megan Coleman whose drums provide the song’s driving, shuffling rhythm and Ryan Madora on slithery, earthy bass. The song is light as air and it’s a tune that instantly hooks the listener in. Foot tapping is not an option here; it’s a necessity and the whole thing has a Buddy Holly kind of joy about it. Zoe’s voice is delightful, crammed with a quiet passion that reaches its peak during the “Where do we stand? Won’t you hold my hand?” refrain, Megan McCormick’s harmony vocals shimmer and the rural idyll that inspired the song is shared in the song’s accompanying video.
Hold My Hand is the first of a pair of singles that will precede the release of Wildflower; the second, Mycelium, will be with us on 15th March. From the evidence we’ve had so far, it seems that we’re in for a treat over the next few weeks…
Watch the official video to Hold My Hand here:
Zoe Boekbinder online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter) / Spotify / YouTube
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Categories: Single Review
