High energy, constructive and conspiratorial, the Mynabirds' newest track races with Laura Burhenn’s soft-rasped meditations, affirmations of the ongoing artistry of living life -- a delightful parfait equal parts Talking Heads and Regina Spektor.

A preview from her forthcoming sophomore album, ‘Generals,’ out June 5, ‘Body of Work’ uplifts without resorting to trite do-betterisms. Burhenn takes the role of a kind of punk rock fairy godmother, urging you on with existentialist quotations and reminders of your composite nature. 'Body of Work' has Dirty Projectors-level interlaced melodies layered with influences of '80s new wave and African rhythms, like a denser, sharper Feist.

Did we mention that she’s smart, too? The closing mantra of "freedom is what you do with what has been done to you" comes from Jean Peal Sartre, that hyper-articulate jerkface of postwar Paris. His downcast doldrums here are recast by Burhenn's effusive eloquence.

She reminds us that “Yesterday happened just exactly as it did / You can’t go back and undo”: Remember that you are a body of work, a loving being, electric -- assurances that seem to be as much for Burhenn as for her listener, that together deliver a soaring song of wide-eyed, and hard-earned, optimism.

Listen to the Mynabirds' 'Body of Work'

loading...

More From Diffuser.fm