Anne Malin - "Hourglass"

Photo by Rachel Winslow

Nashville's Anne Malin have been described as "art country," "Gothic country," and "ghost country." All of those descriptions meet up perfectly in the duo's latest single, "Hourglass." "Hourglass" has a little bit of a cabaret feel to it, while still being distinctly country. Anne Malin Ringwalt's vocals seem particularly vulnerable on this track. Plus, there is some wonderfully horrific noise that comes in towards the end, with nothing else truly changing. Is it feedback? Metal on metal? Some unknown instrument being mercilessly abused? Whatever it is, it adds to the song perfectly.

Anne Malin Ringwalt explains the new quarantine written and recorded song:

“'Hourglass' started, lyrically, from my sense of detachment from time during the pandemic. When I wrote 'somewhere an hourglass stands at night / sand slips by in the moonlight' I was feeling—at the depth of Will and my unemployment—out of control but loving the experience of how dense our days together were, how our days blurred together. I was picturing time as something far away from us. The image of sand inside the hourglass got me thinking about summer, though, and all the ways I’d enjoy my time pre-covid. As I wrote, I moved from this sense of temporal bewilderment to my relationship with Will. We’re getting married late this summer, so when I sing about 'last July' I’m singing about Will proposing to me—how time seemed to be opening up for us then, the possibility we felt. How does one enter that sense of possibility from a pandemic? I tried to sing towards that."

You can listen to "Hourglass" below. Waiting Song, the upcoming album from Anne Malin, will be out October 2. You can pre-order a copy via Bandcamp. For more on Anne Malin, check out the band's website.

Anne Malin · Hourglass