California fiddler and vocalist Mei Lin Heirendt, currently performing with Broken Compass, has a new single releasing today. This young artist has been generating a good bit of notice of late, being selected this past three years to participate in the IBMA’s Kids on Bluegrass program while still in high school.
This latest, Wasting the Silence, is her second song to drop this year, both written by Heirendt. The first, Enough, was a bluegrass number, while the new one has more of an Americana vibe.
Wasting the Silence is a deeply reflective song, more so than you might expect from an 18 year old writer, about romantic partners that have stopped speaking. Mei Lin offers this impressionistic glimpse at the backstory.
“You’re standing in a log cabin facing the window. Outside, knee deep snow covers the ground and decorates the distant line of pine trees on the horizon. No other houses are around for miles. It’s complete isolation except for the loved one who sits in a chair at the small kitchen table behind you. You can see their reflection in the frosted window. They sit there with a blank look. They haven’t spoken to you in weeks, yet you somehow hold on to a speck of hope that they’ll come around. But each day that hope wanes with the imminent melting of the icicle looming over the window. It’s their job to apologize, isn’t it?
The past fight between you hangs over both your heads, but neither party knows how to live again. You wonder if they’re even sorry. You wonder if you have the capacity to forgive them. Your focus moves to your own reflection in the window. There’s visible pathways painted on your cheeks, scars of the countless tears that carved their way down your face, dried, and then came again. This is Wasting the Silence.”
With Heirendt on fiddle and lead vocals, support comes from Shaun Richardson on guitars, Maddie Willer on mandolin, Joshua Lee Turner on bass, and Tim Bulkey on drums. John Bryan adds harmony vocals.
Have a listen…
Wasting the Silence is available today from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers can contact Heirendt for an airplay copy.
