Modern Burdens

Track Listing

01. Mother Mother (3:17)
02. Navy Bean (4:26)
03. Tell It To The Sky (feat. Nicole Atkins) (4:33)
04. Kisses (feat. Rachael Yamagata) (2:51)
05. Brain Crack (feat. Kathryn Calder) (3:25)
06. The One (4:59)
07. One Hit Wonder (3:40)
08. Sharks Can’t Sleep (feat. Tanya Donnelly) (5:11)
09. Bulldog (2:58)
10. Every Breath (feat. Kay Hanley) (1:48)
11. 30 Seconds (feat. Angie Hart) (3:16)
12. The Real (feat. Sadie Dupuis) (3:22)
13. Free (3:56)

Press

(Four Stars) “Tracy Bonham’s 1996 debut The Burdens of Being Upright turned Gen-X jitters and Berklee-honed chops into alt-rock gold. 20 years later, Bonham has re-imagined the album, pulling its songs apart and inviting a few pals (Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley, the New Pornographers’ Kathryn Calder and more) to help put them back together. The radio hit “Mother Mother,” originally a frayed-nerves blast through early-adulthood angst, turns into a blues-tinged mosey through 2017’s magnified anxieties (“Trump is trending,” she laments); “Navy Bean,” originally a punky corker, stretches out its spindly lick over stomping drums; “The Real” gets a lift from rich harmonies (courtesy of Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis) and swirling distortion. Modern Burdens is a lovingly penned postcard to Bonham’s past self, and a fascinating look at where she’s at right now.” —Rolling Stone

Album Credits

Written by Tracy Bonham
(Darn Darn Dan Dan Broke The Bubby / Universal Music Group, ASCAP)

Tracy Bonham: vocals, background vocals, guitar, violin, strings, piano, synth, bass guitar, drums, drum programming
Jeff Turlik: guitar
Chris Dyas: guitar
Andrew Sherman: organ
John Wlaysewski: guitar, loops, synths, bass guitar, bass synth, synthesizer, samples, drums, drum loops, drum machine, drum programming, percussion, tambourine
Joe Magistro: drums
Konrad Meissner: drums
Todd Perlmutter: drums

Nicole Atkins: vocals on “Tell It To The Sky”
Kathryn Calder: vocals, piano, and keyboards on “Brain Crack”
Tanya Donnelly: vocals on “Sharks Can’t Sleep”
Sadie Dupuis: vocals and guitar on “The Real”
Kay Hanley: vocals on “Every Breath”
Angie Hart: vocals on “30 Seconds”
Rachael Yamagata: vocals on “Kisses”

Olive Hui: background vocals
PledgeMusic Background Vocalists: Howard Frankel, John Hernandez, Caspi Oron, Gillian Clopton, Ingelin Sandtorp Olsen, Matthew Velazquez, Leanna Phifer, Kate Eppers, Vincent Earle, Stitch Mayo, David Young, Katia Dotto, Nick Ford, Renee Valdez, Jem Boere, and Christopher Elliot
Lisa Stockton-Wilson: background vocals

Recorded, mixed, and produced by John Wlaysewski
“Mother Mother” recorded and mixed by Todd Perlmutter at Captain’s Cove Studios
“One Hit Wonder” (drums) and “The One” recorded by Peter Fox at Pearl St Studios
“Sharks Can’t Sleep” (lead vocal) recorded by Scott Janowitz at Appletone Studios
“Every Breath” (lead vocal) recorded by Michael Eisenstein at Death Star Studio
“30 Seconds” (lead vocal) recorded by Bill McDonald at The Scouthall
“30 Seconds” (drums) recorded live by Dave Cook at Levon Helm Studios
“30 Seconds” post-production drum mixing by Jesse Cannon
Mastered by Kevin Salem at The Distortion Tank

Cover illustration by Wendy MacNaughton
Design by John Givens