Morningsiders Unveil New Album ‘I’ve Got A Song,’ New Single “Hang The Cedar” Out Now
April 1, 2022 BY Jason Currell
Today, New York City indie folk-pop trio Morningsiders unveil their new album I’ve Got A Song. With the album announcement comes a brand-new single from the triad titled “Hang The Cedar,” recorded with iconic producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile) at his live-in-studio earlier this year. “Hang The Cedar” is a song that mutates and adapts through catchy grooves and rhythms using wistful, blissful folk melodies combined with compelling storytelling.
Morningsiders share, “Sometimes melodies or riffs sit on our shelf for years before we figure out how to build a song around them. We had this piano pattern that we’d return to in the writing room every few months, but it never felt right when we tried to turn it into a chorus. Finally it clicked that what we had in our heads was actually the verse, and all of a sudden Hang the Cedar came together really quickly. It’s a song about the uneasy negotiation of identity within friend groups, and the vertigo of developing a sense of self around how others see you. One of the lines, “I’m going to cultivate an attitude / dye my hair to feel renewed” stands out to me as the crux of things. It was inspired by a good friend reminiscing about a moment from middle school when she sort of fell in between different friend groups. She described it as her “cultivating a personality” era. I love that. It’s like all of a sudden you have a chance to meet yourself, but also to reinvent and curate in a way that you couldn’t before.”
LISTEN TO “HANG THE CEDAR” HERE
ABOUT MORNINGSIDERS:
Comprised of Magnus Ferguson, vocals/guitar; Reid Jenkins, fiddle/vocals; and Robert Frech, piano, the Morningsiders are known for their unique indie music that bridges the gap between virtuosic, intimate live moments and gorgeously atmospheric studio-produced pop song prowess. The trio have evolved from an acoustic and instrumental-heavy Americana collective comprised of rotating members into today’s guitar-fiddle-piano trio more focused on songcraft and production. They first made a name for themselves on a national level when their song “Empress” topped Spotify’s Viral 50 in 2015 and was featured in a Starbucks commercial featuring Oprah Winfrey. The song now has over 44 million streams on Spotify. In 2020, they branched out from their acoustic roots for the folk-rock-driven sophomore album, Pollen. And now, since the release of the October 2021’s Easy Does It, the trio are set to expand their reach on a larger level while still retaining the moments of brilliant musicianship and quirky sonic maneuvering that first earned them notice.
