It feels so special to have Sarah Morris join us the very day that her new EP, Between Here and There, is released. It beautiful and touching and will make you feel the pandemic but not feel alone. You can hear her play these songs and more Tuesday night (Mar 23) starting with a cocktail hour with and then a full stream at 7pm.
This is a collection of four songs and four collaborations. Sarah wrote three songs during the pandemic, about the pandemic based on prompts (actual shout out of words) from her community. She came up with a draft version of the song and handed it over to a trusted artist and collaborator to do the instrumental arrangement, then in perfect pandemic form, they would return it to her and she would do vocals. She worked with Andrew Foreman (Be With You), Lars-Erik Larson (Between Here and There) and Jillian Rae (I Need You). And there’s a unique cover of Thompson Twins’ Hold Me Now with Graham Bramblett.
Sarah’s voice gets to a new level on intimate with these songs – perhaps because as she told us she focused on the collaborator when singing each song. Pretending like they were in the room with her – singing directly to their face.
Hold Me Now is a fun song and it brings me back. It’s a good mix with the rest of the music, which is a soundtrack to the last year we have all shared – remotely, often alone, even when in a crowded room. Be With You talks about that loss of pre-pandemic constructs, like the calendar and the need to find small comforts. Between the Here and There is about needing to recognize that we’re not alone and we can’t go through this alone. We live in interdependence at all levels – from the family and friend circle, we need to reach out to each other. On the community and global level, we need to wear masks, quarantine when necessary, make kind decisions. And I Need You taps into that interdependence a bit too – we need to be strong for each other.
The songs sound very much like a love letter to Sarah’s people. Listening to the EP is cathartic; it’s touching to the point of being a release.
Mostly Minnesota 