At the AU we are suckers for beautiful folk music, and today we have a gem from Atlanta-based folk artist and singer/songwriter Brianna McGeehan with “Home”, her first new single since 2020, and indeed her debut release under her own name. We’re thrilled today to be premiering the track ahead of its release on Friday.
Brianna’s previous release was with Heart Hunters’ 2020 single “Smokin’ potpourri and Drinkin’ Gasoline.”. In “Home”, Brianna has taken inspiration from her teenage obsession with Dorothy Day, of the Catholic Worker Movement. “When I was 19, I wanted to be her,” McGeehan says. “I tried to read all the same books she read, I went to mass every Sunday. Dorothy Day was so cool—she lived in voluntary poverty, and she was all about community, and that’s how we heal. The people I respect most all have that same philosophy. Bell Hooks is another—All About Love: New Visions was hugely impactful for me. So that’s what ‘Home’ is—someone singing to a person who suffers from mental illness and telling them, ‘I can be your home.’ But to me it’s even more universal than that—it’s about how if we don’t make some changes, people will continue to suffer.”
In “Home”, Brianna writes that “It’s a song about finding home in your people, and community as the antidote to mental illness,”. It has beautiful delicate acoustic tones, with some electro-folk feels and programmed beats thrown into the mix. Above all, it provides hope and love, both of which can be found amongst your tribe. “Home” reflects Brianna’s musical journey; originally as a young indie artist from Brooklyn, morphing into a folk singer based out of Atlanta.
Reflecting on her roots, and how it has shaped this new work – “I was really into Le Tigre and Ladytron at the time,” she says. “I was writing a lot with a friend who’d send me electronic music, and I’d come up with vocal melodies and lyrics on top of it. Other than being Irish-American and growing up singing Celtic folk music, I didn’t really get into Americana until later when I discovered Gillian Welch. Coming of age in the Pacific Northwest in the ’90s, I was more into grungy guitars, and when I was in New York, I was drawn to electronic music and pop and Regina Spektor—so this new direction feels like a return for me.”
There promises to be many more tracks to come. About these – “The new record I’m working on is a cocktail of vocals, strings, traditional instruments, synth, electronic beats and loops—it’s the realization of a vision I’ve had since my early days in New York.”
We are looking forward to more from Brianna McGeehan, enjoy the beauty that is “Home”.
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Header image credit: Rose Riot Photography
