WATCH: Mackenzie Shivers Shares New Single “nest”

The Hudson Valley, NY artist’s fourth album, primrose was in season, out tomorrow

February 29, 2024February 29, 2024 Ron Hart 0 Comments 2024, Eilean Donan Records, Hudson Valley, Kevin Salem, Mackenzie Shivers, New York, primrose was in season, Sia

In a time when the concept of motherhood is being used as an inappropriate poker chip in American politics, singer-songwriter Mackenzie Shivers tackles the subject head-on with her lovely new album primrose was in season.

The LP, her fourth, was created after the Hudson Valley-based artist experienced the tragic loss of her first pregnancy, but happily bookended by the birth of her first child. And it is that spectrum of emotions that colors these 10 songs, produced by longtime Hudson Valley fixture Kevin Salem and delivers a crafty 21st century update of the region’s established alt-folk sound with elements of dance beats and electric guitar akin to early Sia.

Rock & Roll Globe is honored to premiere the video for the latest single from primrose was in season, “nest,” one of the album’s most poignant cuts.

“[The song] is about wading through grief, trying to swim in its turbulent waters,” Shivers explains. “There are moments when I thought I had begun to swim with the current, ready to plant my feet on solid ground, only to get dragged back underwater again. And yet, ‘nest’ was so much fun to make, and I think you can hear that joy in the song’s production. After we finished the record, Kevin Salem told me he thinks he was unconsciously trying to make me dance, as he knew I needed that pick-me-up and joy in my life, and he was right. We added dance beats and electric guitar so perfectly out of tune that it felt just right. And where there was joy, there was hope, as echoed in the last line ‘we’ll try again next year.’ Which we did. This song and this album are very much the bridge that brought me to my daughter.”

Mackenzie Shivers primrose was in season, Eilean Donan Records 2024

For the video, Shivers used old films of her mom when she was a child to illustrate the song’s message of hope and resilience.

“I had a whole different video concept in mind for this song, and then as a surprise, my mom sent me some old footage from her childhood, and I immediately became inspired to set it to ‘nest,’” she reveals. “While writing this song came from a place that was bittersweet if not tragic, ‘nest’ has very much become a song about making a family, and the idealized version of that versus the reality of how it can happen.”

You can find primrose was in season available across all DSPs tomorrow. In the meantime, watch the video for “nest” below.