Zoe Boekbinder -- Wildflower
Zoe Boekbinder achieves stunning clarity on Wildflower, an exploration of ephemeral beauty and facing life's ups and downs with a willingness to work through anything.
When we last checked in with Zoe Boekbinder on our podcast, they were in the prep stages for what they termed as their "country" album – and were deeply engaged in restorative justice and accountability. Both of these themes take center stage on Wildflower, a breathtaking album that will stay with you for a long, long time.
Wildflower opens with the languid steel guitars of "Cover Up The Moon," evoking the ephemeral elegance and unique beauty of the album's namesake. The love song "Hold My Hand" convey the anxiety of conflict and maintaining relationships – all with a catchy beat and emphasizing the importance of being direct and honest. That receptiveness to exploring conflict and compromise is the bedrock to resolving many of the stories Boekbinder presents here – that bravery and willingness to work through things is how we can truly heal from the pain we cause each other.
That thesis is illustrated with shocking clarity on "The Rest of His Days." Here, Boekbinder turns their gaze to the prison industrial complex and our justice system, which focuses more on retribution for past actions than forging a pathway towards the future. This is a song that reports on pain, trauma, crime, punishment, being trapped in the system – and some of the ways one can free oneself in spite of that.
"Mycelium" and "Oh Sophia" explore that last, final freedom that we all succumb to. The pulsing, earthy groove of "Mycelium" and Boekbinder's zen performance have stayed just below the surface of my inner ear since I first listened to the song weeks ago. I hope I am not hyperbolic in writing that if an artist writes even one song like this in their life, they should be proud. "Oh Sophia," similarly, is a celebration of a departed friend, an examination of grief as it relates to love. Boekbinder approaches death, grief, and love with the same forthright equanimity as anything else on Wildflowers, helping us accept the inevitable – and accept whatever comes before then.
