Like a phoenix rising
The Huntress and Holder of Hands emerges from grief with unique sound
Before David Lamb died of leukemia in 2014, he gave his wife and musical partner, MorganEve Swain, a Christmas gift: the song “Avalon.” In 45 seconds, Lamb used “Avalon” to express his great love and musical magic. The song became one of the final things the duo's Rhode Island-based band Brown Bird recorded before Lamb passed.
Since then
Swain has used “Avalon” to light her way forward into a new band. Pulling from the lyrics of the song, Swain named her new group The Huntress and Holder of Hands and their 2017 debut record “Avalon.”
“It was really important to carry the idea of Brown Bird forward with this album, which is clearly about grief and totally cathartic,” Swain said ahead of The Huntress and Holder of Hands' show at the Rockwell in Davis Square on Sunday.
When Lamb passed, Swain thought about quitting music. But before she could give the idea much serious thought, she began to wonder how she could quit.
“Brown Bird was touring all the time so I haven't had a real job for over 10 years,” she said. “I don't have a resume and I don't have anything to put on a resume.”
Swain didn't give up on music.
Instead, she put everything she had into the album “Avalon.” With family, old friends and kindred musical spirits Emily Dix Thomas (cello/vocals), Liz Isenberg (double bass/vocals), James Maple (drums) and Spencer Swain (electric bass/violin), she began filling out demos she recorded alone at home.
In Brown Bird, Lamb did the bulk of the writing; Swain's new project forced her to become a faster, more confident songwriter.
“As part of Brown Bird, there wasn't a whole lot of pressure on me because Dave was so much better than me and so prolific,” she said. “But things started to flow when I committed to writing. The first three songs came out of me very quickly. It was like he was there pushing me along.”
Lamb may have been more prolific, but a listen to “Avalon” proves her craft matches his. Swain's songs bloom under the crushing weight of her heartbreak. She writes understandably raw lyrics full of love and longing. Her music can echo Lamb's fondness for Middle Eastern and Baltic melodies (listen to “Borealis”), but they feel distinct — no artist has even conjured an epic instrumental sweep like the one that opens “Shadow of the Hunted.”
Now that she has some distance from “Avalon,” she is ready to write songs that don't recall her relationship with Lamb.
“There is so much happening in the world, so much that needs be written about,” Swain said. “I had to crawl out of this deep dark hole that I was in personally. In doing that, I am ready to look at stuff that's beyond my own personal experience.
“I didn't want Brown Bird to be my final word,” she added.