Babehoven’s Maya Bon has always said that songwriting helps her “process the struggles of daily existence, of familial trauma, of the processes of letting go.” That description feels especially apt for Yellow has a pretty good reputation, which finds Bon utterly lost in her life as one day bleeds into the next while trying to ground herself.
It’s fairly well known that Tom Petty wrote his critically acclaimed 1994 record Wildflowers as a double album, but Warner Bros. nixed that plan, saying it would be too long. If you ask a lot of die-hard fans, though, Wildflowers is his best work. Wildflowers & All the Rest finally puts the remaining songs where he wanted them: in the same place.
New Petal Instants is what the Traveling Wilburys might have sounded like if Wilco and the Meat Puppets were on board alongside Bob Dylan. It’s fitting for there to be an undercurrent of anxiety in an album released by an American band in 2020. Arbor Labor Union addresses that while expertly offering a solution simultaneously.
