To Oregon songwriter Haley Heynderickx, a seed represents incubation and the process of navigating the darkest, deepest parts of ourselves before becoming realized. It is a process of turning inward, listening and noticing, and trusting one can create something honest and true despite all the constant noise around us—whether that’s the news, social media, or our own self-doubt.

Where Heynderickx’s debut album I Need to Start a Garden was about self-actualization and the excavation of the soul, her new album Seed of a Seed is now about protecting it. Heynderickx’s answer is by going inwards, requiring a brave solitude, while also acknowledging that it’s not done alone. This album nods to the necessary helpers along the way—from flowers (“Gemini”) and daydreams (“Foxglove”) to forests (“Redwoods (Anxious God)”) and friends (“Jerry’s Song”). Seed of a Seed is an album that honors these helpers – and the self – and the process of fighting upward toward the light.

This album doesn’t give you easy answers. Heynderickx’s journey is not a linear one. A theme that persists across both albums is that Heynderickx is still building herself. She is still growing and changing, and her songs invite us to notice that in ourselves, as well. She admits, “The irony is I’ll still be asking these questions; I’m not on the other side of it.”

Seed of a Seed is almost like a note-to-self to move on her timeline, at her own pace, and to surface only when she’s ready and rested. That is, it’s both a reminder and a permission slip to go away in order to return.

Matt the Electrician is Matthew Sever, a quirky, sincere folk/pop singer songwriter based in Austin, TX. He has self-released 11 studio albums, and two live CDs since 1998.

His most recent release, The Ocean Knocked Me Down, came out on February 2nd, 2024.

For the new project, Matt returned to his “home studio” of sorts, The Aerie, in Austin, TX, (owned and operated by Mark Addison) where Matt had recorded four of his previous records, including 2009’s “Animal Boy.” And like that project, Matt and Mark played nearly all the instruments on the new record.  There are some special guest musicians as well, including MtE regulars, Seela, Jon Greene, and Stephanie Macias. Plus, first timers Carrie Rodriguez, Luke Jacobs and Oliver Steck.

To call this a pandemic record might be slightly misguided, even though most of the songs were in fact written during 2020 and 2021. But the vibe of the record is upbeat, and weird, and fun, and sometimes sad, but hopeful, and occasionally poignant, and silly, and hopeful, but ridiculous, and also hopeful. You might think that’s a lot of vibes, but there are 16 songs on the record, because we’ve all been through a lot, and so Matt figured that, this time,  everyone deserved a few more songs and a few more vibes than usual.

Patty Limerick is a Professor of History, the Director of the Applied History Initiative, and the Campus Partner for Academic Affairs for the Veteran and Military Affairs office at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is the author of Desert Passages (1985), The Legacy of Conquest (1987), Something in the Soil (2000), and A Ditch in Time (2012).

She has served as President of the American Studies Association, the Western History Association, Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians, as Vice President of the Teaching Division of the American Historical Association, and as a Member of the National Council on the Humanities. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1995 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Limerick has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between academics and the general public and to demonstrating the benefits of applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts.