A coast-to-coast effort brought together “Passengers,” a lead track from Aoife O’Donovan’s new album, Age of Apathy, releasing Friday, January 21. The track features Madison Cunningham on lead guitar and backing vocals.

O’Donovan recorded her part of the song in Florida, while Cunningham recorded her parts in California. Drummer Jay Bellerose, who has also recorded with Aimee Mann, Bonnie Raitt and Punch Brothers, along with bassist David Piltch, who has worked with k.d. lang among others, recorded their parts in separate studios in California as well. The entire album was produced by Joe Henry — who has worked with all of the musicians on the record. O’Donovan is no stranger to collaboration, having been part of Crooked Still, the Goat Rodeo Sessions, and most recently, has enjoyed success as part of I’m With Her, a trio comprising O’Donovan, Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz.

“Passengers” features jangly guitars under O’Donovan’s powerful, lilting vocals. The cheery mood of the song sits neatly opposite the song’s heavier lyrical content, which takes a good, hard look at existence but concludes with a positive observation, “We’re passengers and the road is long.”

Given the strong Californian imprint on the song, it’s no surprise the location for its video is in the Golden State — in the foothills of Joshua Tree National Park, to be exact. The video is directed by Omar Cruz, with director of photography Andrés Beligoy.

Ahead of the album release, O’Donovan is hosting a listening party on Mandolin on Thursday, January 21, at 7 p.m. Central. O’Donovan kicks off a North American tour on February 24 before heading to Europe in June.

External Link

Aoife O’Donovan - official site