Bands adapt. Change, find new voices, new members and often times return to their roots. Even if some members have come and gone, one thing Spirit Family Reunion has remained constant on since the first time I saw them burn the stage down at Newport Folk 2012 is their energy, passion and heart that flows through the veins of their music.
The band celebrates the announcement of their first record in 4 years with a fresh track called “One Way Ticket“.
Of the single, singer and guitarist Nick Panken says, “This is a song about self empowerment, solidarity among outcasts, a thirst for trespassing borders that uphold convention. Being alive is the only permission you need to be here. That is your one way ticket, and it’s as valid as the rest. Though our societies invent criteria that inflict very real suffering upon a multitude of beings, we are all entitled to claim dignified lives simply because we are here. Ultimately this is more real than any fabricated rule or restriction, and this song suggests that the validation you need is contained within you.”
The track is bound with the familiar group harmonies we have come to know and love from the band. Panken’s front and center and banjo player Maggie Carson’s hanging right there with him. The energy stripped down a bit, a slow trot by comparison to some of their more uptempo numbers, but the strain and honesty in their voices nonetheless driving the power of the song. There is an unrestrained realness in that strain. Beauty in pain and suffering that we can overcome and as we have come to expect from Spirit Family, everyone is welcome to join the chorus with open hearts and open minds. So, sing out folks. Sing on.
‘Ride Free’ is slated to be out on August 9.