After touring the world as a member of the Postal Service in 2013, Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) took a year to get lost. She drove across the US twice, toured South Africa solo, made her first appearance in London (also solo), and trekked all over Europe with William Faulkner's words ringing in her ears: "You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." Finally she found herself in Los Angeles with a suitcase of songs to fill a whole new album.
Lovers Know, The Mynabirds' third full-length release, was produced by Bradley Hanan Carter (Black English) and recorded over a yearlong period in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree, Nashville, and Auckland, New Zealand. It's definitely new territory for Burhenn, forging into 80s, 90s and futuristic soundscapes, recalling Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and even 90s hip hop and R&B. The album may be loaded with a fresh palette of new sounds (swarms of synths, gauzy electric guitars, and electronic drums), but her brooding, unmistakable voice leads the way. Lyrically this is her most personal and confessional work to date, and also her most accessible.
Whereas her last album, GENERALS, watched from a wide angle to understand the world at a distance, Lovers Know pulls in close. "There's something about wandering the world over," Laura says, "that makes you realize how similar we all are - everyone searching for something, so often the same thing: love. It may sound trite, but it's true. Love - or the lack of it - is the thing we all have in common. It can destroy us. It can break us open and let the light in. And it's also the thing that can make us sing." Burhenn has released two previous albums as The Mynabirds on Saddle Creek, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood (2010) and GENERALS (2012), both of which were produced by Richard Swift and met by critical acclaim.
