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New York, NY (Top40 Charts) See You At The Maypole - the sixth studio album from Half Waif aka Nandi Rose - was originally intended as a departure from her darker works. Where 2021's Mythopoetics dealt with familial traumas and the patterns we carry with us, Rose - armed with the anticipation of planning her own family - envisioned a new collection of soft and joyous odes to motherhood and to new beginnings. That writing sparked in the summer of 2021 at a solo retreat in the Catskills, as melodies formed in a small cabin overlooking a luscious and rain-rippled pond. A month later, Rose found out she was pregnant and anticipated nine months of writing through a new, maternal lens, speckled with the verdure of certainty. But when a soundless morning arrived in December, See You At The Maypole took on a new life, one that would seize the uncomfortable reigns of uncertainty.
Coming out October 4, Half Waif has shared a new video for the album's lead single "Figurine". Directed by Derrick Belcham with choreography by Kora Radella, Rose is immersed in the natural elements that surround her Upstate New York home, emerging from a fetal state to one that expands, takes up space and is cleansed by water. Watch the poignant clip below.
"Not everyone will go through a miscarriage, but this is a song about how to continue on after losing something precious, how to find the light on your face again," Rose says. "Head up, it's gonna get so much better you'll see," the lyrics urge, evoking a chin-up, jewelry box figurine, continuing its dance despite it all.
The treatment of a missed miscarriage, as with an at-home abortion, is most effective with the use of two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol. Rose, however, was only prescribed the latter, likely due to FDA regulations on the former. Over the next four months, her body did not recover as it should have. It wasn't until the spring that she learned she had retained pregnancy tissue and needed an additional procedure, finally allowing her to move forward.
"I was literally carrying death inside me," she explains, "and then my body was frozen." In that same time, Rose's beloved mother-in-law was diagnosed with aggressive pancreatic cancer; it felt like the universe was playing an endless, cruel joke. And so, Rose wrote to save herself. Before the sunrise, she wrote in the quiet corner of the would-be nursery while her husband slept across the hall. These were lullabies for no one, whispers dissipating into the fog.
"This wasn't just my story, I wanted to say. It was every story of loss—the loss of a life, the loss of a dream, the loss of trust and hope and faith. A story of finding a way back again," Rose explains. "My own avenue back to the land of the living was through my relationships with people and with the natural world. It only seemed right that these songs would invite those people in to build the very heart of the sound."
To that end, Rose and her trusted friend and longtime collaborator of the past decade, Zubin Hensler, welcomed a wealth of players and friends into the world of the record: Jason Burger and Zack Levine on drums and percussion; Josh Marre (Blue Ranger) on guitar; Hannah Epperson and Elena Moon Park on violin; Kristina Teuschler on clarinet; Willem de Koch on trombone; Rebecca El-Saleh on harp; and Spencer Zahn on upright bass. Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver) lent his deft mixing skills to many of the tracks, including "Figurine."
See You At The Maypole is both a recognition of personal sadness and a call to ecstatic togetherness. It is gathering the colors of our spirit, in all its shades, and making something intricate and remarkable. The ceremonial folk dance performed around a maypole is filled with fauna and flora, with ribbons woven into complex braids incapable of unraveling; these dances are survivals of ancient ritual, honoring the living trees, and the return of Spring and fertility. These patterns--this dance--cannot be completed alone, and so, Half Waif welcomes others to join her, a collective of bleeding color. "We are so much stronger for the colorful experiences we go through," she says. "That's where we find our humanity and find each other."
Just after the album's release, Half Waif will perform two album release shows - one in upstate New York and one in Brooklyn - and will then tour the country in support of 'See You At The Maypole' beginning at the top of 2025. All upcoming dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES:
10/5 - Chatham, NY @ PS21
10/9 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
1/10 - Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
1/11 - Washington DC @ Songbyrd
1/13 - Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
1/14 - Nashville, TN @ Soft Junk
1/15 - Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
1/16 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
1/17 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin University
1/29 - Brattleboro, VT @ Stone Church
1/30 - Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square
1/31 - Boston, MA @ Arts at the Armory
3/1 - Los Angeles, CA @ Pico Union Project
3/2 - San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
3/4 - Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
3/5 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's
See You At The Maypole:
1. Fog Winter Balsam Jade
2. Collect Color
3. I-90
4. Figurine
5. Heartwood
6. Big Dipper
7. Shirtsleeves
8. Sunset Hunting
9. Dust
10. Slow Music
11. Ephemeral Being
12. Violetlight
13. Velvet Coil
14. The Museum
15. King of Tides
16. Mother Tongue
17. March Grass
