Trauma; uncertainty; compassion; healing with music – Mary Bue finds emotional release on her 9th album – The Wildness Of Living And Dying.
Release Date: 7th February 2025
Label: Self Release
Formats: Digital
A FRUITFUL CAREER
We’ve had a lot of tasters for this one. The imminent arrival of The Wildness of Living and Dying – the ninth album to come from Minneapolis singer/songwriter, yogi and International Retreat Guide, Mary Bue – has been foretold by a string of singles. The two most recent of which, Bedding Down With The Deer and Trying To Fight The Wind have claimed their share of At The Barrier column space.
During her career, Mary has earned widespread recognition across North America. Over the years, she’s won multiple Artist Residences, including The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, “Escape to Create” Artist in Residence at The Seaside Institute in Seaside, Florida and Big Cypress Nature Preserve Artist in Residence in Ochopee, Florida. She’s also a registered yoga teacher and has studied at Rishikesh (of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Beatles fame) and at The Nada Yoga School.
SONGS THAT PULL NO PUNCHES
The songs that comprise…Wildness… confront issues of trauma, uncertainty, compassion and healing with music and they were written in the years following a traumatic carjacking experience of which Mary was the victim, back in 2020. The songs pull no punches whatsoever – indeed, if you’re of a meek disposition, you may well be shocked by what Mary has to say but, once you’ve considered her messages, you’ll realise the truth and sincerity in what she’s saying. I know that I did. Her words express strength in vulnerability, resilience of the human spirit, the growth experienced within a cycle of destruction and, ultimately, transformation.
The songs on …Wildness… are built around Mary’s piano and voice and fleshed out – sometimes gently, sometimes raucously, by Jeremy Ylvisaker on guitar, Steve Price on bass, Richard Medek on drums, Shannon Frid-Rubin on violin and Julia Floberg on cello. The sound they produce ranges from tender and mellow to rock-bordering-on-grunge, subject to mood – and they never fail to get it just right.
CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF 60s SOCIAL COMMENTARY
It’s the album’s title track that gets …Wildness… underway. Resonant piano, a light-yet-insistent drumbeat and flurries of guitar provide the backing and Mary’s voice is front and centre as she announces: “It’s in the air, it’s in the water, it’s in the Earth, it’s in the fire” and her lyrics cascade forth, culminating in her conclusion: “If you’re hearing this – you ain’t dead yet, my friend.”
There’s an intimate feel to the anthemic The Wait (Don’t Tell Me). Mary’s voice is cushioned by Steve’s rich bass and Jeremy’s swirling guitar, whilst her piano flourishes are reserved for the song’s tender “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna leave, I don’t wanna know” interlude, before the excellent Right Now, one of the four singles to herald the album, cranks the pace right back up. Capturing the spirit of a late 60’s social commentary song – The Temptations’ Ball of Confusion comes particularly to mind – Mary’s lyrics consider a range of scenarios that are certain to be taking place, somewhere in the world, at any given time – the movement of the seasons, the flight of geese, the decay of flowers, birth, death, sex, drugs and rock & roll. It’s dramatic, it’s urgent, and it’s a true album highlight.
EASY GOING ShUFFLE
The easy-going country shuffle of After The Disaster belies the dystopian subject matter of Mary’s lyrics that include lines like: “After the disaster, you opened up like a bloody gushing wound.” It sounds like the end of the world is nigh, but it isn’t – because, as Mary concludes: “After the disaster – Life goes on.” From a country mood, we move on to furious, grungy, rock. Mary’s confident, cynical vocal is matched by surging bass and churning guitars. Mary’s lyrics – always the most important aspect of her songs – survive the full-on assault, culminating in her parting shot that trying to draw blood from a stone is like: “Trying to draw light from a hole; You f*cking asshole!”
And, as so often is the case, after the frenzy, comes the calm. The fuzzy guitars are replaced by acoustic guitars and violins for the folky, vulnerable, Salt In The Wound. Although the music may be tempered, there’s no compromise to the lyrics as Mary declares “I’m a crack whore – it feels like I’m crumbling.”
A SONG THAT PULSES, PERSISTS AND PERSUADES
With Trying To Fight The Wind, the album’s most recent single, Mary considers the effects of invisible pressure and draws inspiration from the brutal winters of her native Minnesota. By way of elaboration, Mary says: “Wind fascinates me – a power that we can’t see. An invisible force that blows down trees, buildings, and creates massive damage… [Trying to Fight the Wind] speaks to systematic pressure and the ‘heard it on the wind’ quality of gossip, misapprehension and lies that can run our societal show, especially in these unprecedented times. It speaks to the idiom of ‘spitting in the wind’ – the feeling of trying so hard to create something, to prove something, to speak truth to power – and the feeling that it’s going nowhere – the spit flies right back in your face.”
The spacy backing captures that winter desolation perfectly, as light keyboard flourishes combine with a heavy, heavy bass sound to add a touch of warmth. Mary’s message is relentless and desperate: “You’re trying to fight the wind, the fires are lickin’ in, the swirl of change begins; you don’t know where you’re goin’,” in a song that pulses, persists and, ultimately, persuades.
Mary’s sharp, clear and direct delivery of Bones And Marrow, another anthemic number, recalls Lucinda Williams at around the time of her Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album. Her strident piano and the heavy drumbeat sit in contrast to the sweet tones of the strings.
TWO SONGS THAT CRYSTALISE THE ALBUM
But it is, perhaps, with the closing pair of tracks that Mary encapsulates most completely the spirit and purpose of The Wildness Of Living And Dying. The slow, thoughtful, Thinking About You is a veritable powderkeg of a song. The frozen landscape of a Minnesotan winter is brought vividly to life as Mary sings: “Standing in the icy bank together, I never thought I’d see this day…” Any thoughts of tenderness are shattered by that line’s rejoinder: “…So f*ckin’ complicated!!”
A TRAILBLAZING SINGLE
Which brings us to Bedding Down With the Deer, another of those trailblazing singles and the album’s majestic closing track. It’s a song that crystalises the album in every way. The band capture a rich, dreamy – sometimes spacy – ambience that sits comfortably alongside the emotions that Mary’s lyrics express. Already noted within these pages, Bedding Down With the Deer can be considered to be two songs in one. The first, in which Mary’s voice takes on a mocking – almost sleazy – tone is accompanied by Mary’s piano, an insistent drumbeat and spooky background sounds.
It’s here that she recognizes that those around her seem determined to frustrate and entrap her. For the second half of the song, after Mary realizes that “I feel safer with the deer than with the lights of the city.” The tones are softer and mellower. The harsher piano and drum sounds are replaced by gently strummed guitar and sweet vocal harmonies. Wholly reflective of the feelings of comfort and safety that Mary has achieved as she accepts the friendship and protection of her non-human allies.
The Wildness Of Living And Dying is an exhilarating album. If you’re a student of human emotion or, if well-considered and well-structured lyrics are your thing, you’ll love this album. The music’s pretty good, too.
Listen to Trying To Fight The Wind – the most recent of the album’s four singles – here:
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