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about
A little over a year ago, Gabi Lima sent me the music for this song with the line “recessive gene swimming upstream”, accompanied by a beautiful description of her concept for the song. We got on a zoom call, and she held up a pine cone as an example of the Fibonacci sequence, and the golden section (golden ratio, golden mean, or Gabi’s choice: golden cut). She envisioned the pinecone as an analogue for the continuum of family, and more specifically, the matrilineal spiral of mother/daughter/mother/daughter. (The golden section is apparently present in a DNA molecule in this way: it measures 34 x 21 angstroms for each cycle of the double helix spiral ~ 34 and 21 being part of the Fibonacci sequence.)
Having held an amateurish interest in the golden ratio for a long time, I loved this idea, and the image of a rogue recessive gene attempting to make a break for it. From that first conversation, we traded lyrics back and forth, tweaked structure, and then invited some of our very favorite people to play ~ Gail Greenwood, Magen Tracy, Melissa Gibbs, and Tamora Gooding.
Some of the words in this song are pulled from our texts to each other ~ the possum in the fig tree, the swan feathers on duckweed. Gabi and I are both literal tree-huggers and will occasionally send each other pics of the plants and creatures we come across on our walks, and we included some of those snaps in the lyrics.
Gabi had the idea to release the song around Mother’s Day, a loaded and layered weekend for many. The luckiest among us are able to describe family ties as "complicated", and this song covers some of that, I think. The navigational decisions made around these relationships, whether for peace, for love, for support, for escape, sometimes for survival ~ and the shifts made as we go and grow. Speaking for myself alone, it’s both hard and healthy work teasing out the patterns and scripts of family, and it's ever ongoing.
Anyhoo. This is our song! We like it a lot and hope you do, too. I am dedicating it here to my own beautiful mama, who I love very dearly and who contains multitudes, and also to my deeply missed grandmothers, amazing daughters, and beloved Bub.
Please check out Gabi's BC page ~ if you don’t know her yet, she is a crazy-talented multi-intstrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and producer/engineer. gabilima.bandcamp.com
lyrics
Golden Cut
Tanya Donelly, Gabi Lima
I watched your faith ground down to paste and powder
Treading water in a flat sea wasting power
Can you learn to be still and live to swim again another day
I'll be your body of water
I'm the lagoon the ocean didn't swallow
Recessive gene, swimming upstream
Dangerously trying to break free
Grounded here by love and fear
In a time well beyond the time to leave
You are your mother's mother's mother's spiraling golden cut
So don't cheat yourself out of a good life
Swan down feather on duckweed
Possums up our fig tree
I'll carry them with me when I see myself out
My blood is full of stories in a language I don't know
I should've learned it long ago
Should've known the voices I'd follow
Recessive gene, swimming upstream
Dangerously trying to break free
Grounded here by love and fear
In a time well beyond the time to leave
You are your mother's mother's mother's spiraling golden cut
So don't cheat yourself out of a good life
Recessive gene, swimming upstream
Trying to get out of here
My blood is full of stories in a language I should know
Should've learned it long ago
I am my mother's mother's mother's mother's gold
Life it always finds a way
Love is written in your veins
Life it always finds a way
Life is written in you
credits
released April 10, 2024
Golden Cut Credits
Written by Tanya Donelly and Gabi Lima
Produced by Gabi Lima and Tanya Donelly
Mixed by Gabi Lima at Gabinthebox, Los Angeles, CA
Mastered by Katia Dotto in São Paulo, Brazil
Vocals: Tanya Donelly and Gabi Lima, recorded by Joel Edinberg at Q Division, Cambridge, MA
Drums: Tamora Gooding, self-recorded at Boom Boom Studios, Malden, MA
Bass: Gail Greenwood, self-recorded at the RRCC, Aquidneck Island, RI
Electric Guitar: Melissa Gibbs, recorded by Charles Hansen at Pearl St. Place Studios, Somerville MA
Keys: Magen Tracy, recorded by Ed Velauskas at Bassment Studios, Medford, MA
Acoustic Guitar: Gabi Lima, self-recorded at Praia do Laranjal, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
Artwork: designed by Gabi Lima, photo by Tanya Donelly
Lyric Video by Elke Lamers
images by Gabi Lima, Teresa Cowles and Elke Lamers
like the best lyrically driven bands from the 90s, stripping Belly down to their elements only serves to make their impact that much more poignant. Like the sundays' Harriet Wheeler, Tanya's vocals have a way of cutting through the gloom, illuminating ever greater depths. For the fans, no doubt, as we enjoy a new taste with old friends... but also for someone looking to discover, as well. Name your price. Float away for 6 or 7 minutes. Awaken a touch better centered. setaside2
My sis and I used to love our vinyl copy of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack and this takes me right back to our attempts to recreate the film in our dining room! alf0d
Tom Heyman documents life in San Francisco circa 2023, refusing to succumb to easy characterization & instead capturing the city’s nuance. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 22, 2023
Tanya Donnelly, Wreckless Eric, Rosanne Cash, contribute cover versions of John Wesley Harding’s songs for this charitable compilation. Bandcamp New & Notable May 6, 2021
This album is just, at the risk of sounding old, delightful. It just feels like home. I’m not sure what else to say, I’m sure if you came at this as a fan of Tanya you will enjoy this loads. Beautiful record that deserves to be heard! Oh and that sunburst vinyl is just so gorgeous looking! James Ingles
