Brown Bird’s ‘Axis Mundi’ was released in April of this year and I am just now getting around to posting some semblance of a review of it. I have put off reviewing the record, not because I have not listened to it extensively, not because I did not have things to say about it, not because it wasn’t received with a positive scope. As a matter of fact, it has been quite the opposite. I have put it off simply because I have been unable to properly put into words the emotion that washes over me when I first listened to the album. Knowing the place that it came from and the courage and strength that MorganEve Swain had to muster in order to complete this record is unfathomable to me. To me, Swain encompasses more emotional fortitude and spirit and love than I could ever imagine a human could contain.

Sonically, the record does sound very “brown bird”. The way that Swain interweaves her voice with that of Dave Lamb’s is certainly, familiar for fans of the band. But there is something more here, something you have to dig a bit deeper for. That being said, there are more elements, heavier elements that make the sound rock a bit more. Stitched into that sound is the flavors of middle eastern that heavily colored some of the duo’s previous work.

With MorganEve venturing to another project this past weekend with the Huntress, it seemed as good a time as any to revisit Axis Mundi for myself and try to put into words what I couldn’t do 6 or 7 months back (also, the fact that the record is up for Best of the Year in the Big Red Recognitions). Upon doing so it is evident I still cannot properly do this project justice. It is beautiful and heart breaking and filled with human emotion to a point that cannot be summed up in words. You just have to feel it.

“You’re a huntress, a healer, a holder of hands /

And your heart is the Avalon I seek for my end.”

It is very difficult to listen to this record without being swept up in that emotion. That is something truly special. Something moving. Something that makes you feel human and all the vulnerability that comes along with it. Beyond just a record or album, it is a living document of something wonderful that existed between two incredible souls and we all are lucky to get even the tiniest glimpse into.