The Mynabirds will release their new album, It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward, on November 7. Led by singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn, the band has quietly forged a path that winds through landscapes marked by elements of Americana, folk-pop, synth-pop, and pop ballads. Their latest collection is both a look back and a glimpse into the future, as it contains three new songs resting comfortably alongside acoustic versions of seven previously released tracks.
Recorded at 64 Sound and produced by Rilo Kiley’s Pierre de Reeder, the record finds Burhenn and company stripping away the unnecessary things from their work and focusing on the pure creative spirits which lay within each track. “I felt like I went through a complete ego death with this record — going back to how I first learned to write songs: just me and the piano, late at night, using music as therapy,” Burhenn explains. “The record is imperfect, raw, and deeply human, made in a fast-paced, hi-tech time. I joked about calling it AI Could Never.“
Lead single, “Ramona, Patron Saint of Silence”, is a prime example of this ethos, a richly-hued gem that ascends to some truly atmospheric heights on the strength of Burhenn’s voice and the deep echoes emanating from her piano. It’s a song that puts the spotlight on the important rhythmic movements which convey the emotion and gravity of each word spoken and melody offered. There’s a slight percussive rumble that joins in, as well as some resonant strings that wander along in the background, but this is Burhenn’s moment, and she fills every second with a welcoming intensity. This is how she heals — this is how she reaches the people around her.
“After the release of my last record in 2017, my voice fell silent,” says Burhenn. “I buried myself in production work, helping other artists make music videos and films. I didn’t even want to touch the piano. I privately worried I’d sung every song I had in me, and publicly joked that I’d retired from singing altogether. But after losing my best friend, my dog, and my grandmother in quick succession in the middle of the pandemic, something cracked open. Sitting in an Appalachian hot spring after a grueling shoot, I finally stopped moving for the first time in years — and in that stillness, I saw how much pain I’d been avoiding, and heard the faintest whisper of my own voice calling me back.”
She continues: “‘Ramona’ was born from that moment — a song to a fictional Patron Saint of Silence, thanking her for keeping me and my voice alive. It’s about how silence can protect you temporarily, comfort you, and ultimately teach you that your voice is your greatest strength. In a time when so many are forced into silence by trauma, oppression, or survival, the song imagines a future where voices rise together in a collective choir, burning down broken systems and refusing to let those in power destroy us. For me, it’s a reminder that music isn’t something I make to sell — it’s medicine. And I still need it to survive.“
Listen to the song below.
It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward:
1. Different This Time
2. Velveteen
3. Ramona, Patron Saint Of Silence
4. Drinking Song
5. Good Medicine
6. Buffalo Flower
7. Disarm
8. Cocoon
9. Hanged Man
10. LA Rain
It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward is due out November 7 on Our Secret Handshake. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram.
