Singled Out: Erika Wennerstrom “Extraordinary Love”
Who: Erika Wennerstrom
From: Austin, TX
Song: “Extraordinary Love”
Latest Record: solo debut ‘Sweet Unknown’
What About It: “This song is really a continued theme. It’s a mantra of self love. The words could seem like analogies but it pretty biographical. I went down to the amazon jungle on a trip in 2015 right before the last Heartless Bastards record Restless Ones was released. I was at a point where I was deeply unhappy, and on a whim, I decided to do an Ayahuasca retreat. Despite the idea frightening me, I felt I needed something to change within me so bad that I had nothing to lose. It really opened the door and started me on a path to many self realizations. The band decided to take a hiatus the following year and I spent quite a bit of time hiking and reflecting in the mountains of West Texas in Big Bend national park. That’s where a lot of the ideas for the album came to me, and I spent the next year working on it. The song is the realization I do everything in my life for love. We all want to be liked and to give and receive love. If I can’t be kind and loving to myself how can I expect anybody else to. It’s starts with me. I find the most extraordinary thing is to be truly compassionate to yourself.”
