Tears for Relieving Fears – The Huntress and Holder of Hands are Bringing Catharsis with Heavy Tunes

Connecticut-based band The Huntress and Holder of Hands can be described in many ways, but one thing they will never be called is background music.

Big and bold, with two basses, intense drums, and gorgeous strings, their songs immediately make you drop whatever you’re doing, and pay attention. At that point something kind of magical happens – you relate, and not just on a surface level, their music hits you directly in the heart.

The reason for this is because it all comes directly from the heart of vocalist, songwriter, viola, and guitar player MorganEve Swain (photo: seated on floor), who founded the band in 2014 after her husband, Dave Lamb, who was also her musical partner in the band Brown Bird, passed away from leukemia.

“To me, it’s cathartic, writing it, getting it out,” she says, adding, “There is a lightness in the heaviness of things, and I think grief in particular, and pain for what’s going on in the world right now, what’s going on in our country, it’s really easy to just let that stuff bog you down. Being able to put sound to it, I think shakes you out of it … or brings you further in, but it does something that gives you some kind of outlet. That’s my goal with it.”

The Huntress and Holder of Hands will be giving listeners that outlet with the release of the band’s sophomore album, Babylon, on June 5th, which is led by the standout single “Promethean.”

I caught up with Swain to find out more about her music, including how it healed her, and why finding out that a song of hers has made someone cry has become the pinnacle of compliments.

I hope you, and the readers, don’t mind, but I’m going to be a bit selfish with a few questions here, because I know The Huntress and Holder of Hands was born from grief, and I am dealing with a lot of grief at the moment. Other than lyrically, how does grief inform your music? 

In every possible way.

The first record, that was 10 years ago, was a really conscious way of dealing with what I was dealing with, and that record, I remember having a moment of like, either I’m gonna put this down forever, and never be a musician again, and just be swallowed by this unbearable sadness and pain, or I’m going to buck up, and be true to myself, and use art for healing, and for good.

That’s what happened there.

This new one, it’s still still informed by the same stuff, but it’s a little more universal, and I think less blatantly personal, although there’s still a bunch of that on there, too.

How does it feel when you perform something that you’re so close to? 

It feels great.

Honestly, it’s been a really long time since we’ve played live, but being able to play in a band that is loud, and I feel very supported by my band, it’s like having this wall behind me.

When I was playing with my husband, it was just the two of us, and we were very exposed, which was also great, but (this) feels very much like a community, and even though it’s this very personal thing for me, it feels like I’m giving words, or sound, to somebody who might not be able to do it.

I imagine you end up having some emotional connections with your audience. 

Definitely.

Do you have any especially memorable moments with fans? 

Yeah, absolutely. I have so many people come up to me and tell me that they were in tears, or share their grief stories with me, or just say that they’re moved by my story.

I didn’t expect that when I started this band, and I certainly never thought that I would say my goal is to make people cry, but it’s like the best compliment to me when people are like, “I’m just so moved by this.” It honestly doesn't matter why they’re moved, if they’re moved by our ridiculous amount of bass, or the lyrics, or they’re being triggered by their own story, whatever it is, that works for me. That’s what makes it worth doing.

Making people cry in a good way. 

In a good way. Yeah.

Your upcoming album, Babylon, kicks off with the driving, intense song “Promethean,” which is also the lead single. What made it the obvious choice to be the album’s opening salvo? 

I think just how stark that opening is, I can’t imagine it going anywhere else.

It’s been a decade since we’ve put out a record, and that song feels to me like what “Call to Arms” was on the last record, which was literally a call to arms, like, “Hey, I’m still here.” Now it’s we’re still here, and we have stuff to say, and we have a community to be part of.

You’ve mentioned it’s been 10 years between albums. I know you have other projects, but why the long wait? 

Why 10 years? So many factors.

COVID was a huge factor. We’d been enjoying some nice momentum right before COVID hit. Then in the meantime I became a full time member of The Devil Makes Three, so I’m committed to that band, and we do quite a bit of touring. That makes it tough for me to have time for The Huntress.

Also, it’s my band, so nothing happens unless I say it does, so that’s a big part of it.

Mostly, most of the hang up is me.

A lot of life happens in 10 years. There were moves, there were relationships, there were dogs, just a lot going on.

You address the present state of the world quite a bit on Babylon. Change usually starts with a single step, so any ideas on what small step we can take to start to make the world, or maybe just like our neighborhood, a better place?

I wish there was an easy answer for that.

I think my one word answer would be community. Just listen to each other, and be active, and talk about real things.

That’s the only advice I can give. I have no idea.

You have an interesting tour coming up, because you’re hitting the road with The Devil Makes Three, which, as you noted, you are in. So, do you make a good touring partner for you, or are you going to cause problems for you? 

I have a very supportive group of people in my life, and yeah, I’m a good touring partner. I love being on the road.

What would you say are the main musical differences between those two bands? 

The drums is the most obvious.

Devil Makes Three is a great band.

I mean, Pete (Bernhard) is like one of my favorite lyricists. He just really has a gift with words.

We are a three piece, I play upright bass, and we’re pretty firmly rooted in American folk music, blues, and punk rock.

The Huntress, we’re all such good friends, we’ve pulled from the same pool of influences in a lot of ways, but I think The Huntress has a little more freedom to be heavy when we want to be. Having two basses, and drums certainly adds to that.

I’m also really influenced by my husband, Dave, still. The stuff that he would listen to, and that he introduced me to, is a lot of Middle Eastern, and Eastern European music.

And I’m a big metalhead, so I’m able to tap into that a little bit.

Do you have any current musical obsessions, or rabbit holes you're going down right now? Yeah, I’m completely obsessed with All Them Witches lately. I’m going to see this really wonderful, ridiculous band called Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol. I just saw Secret Chiefs 3, which is one of my all-time favorite bands, up in Boston earlier this week.

I’m in the heavy, heavy stuff right now … and Doja Cat.

There’s a balance. 

Yeah, there’s gotta be balance.

How did Doja Cat end up in there? 

I mean, you can’t not like Doja Cat. When you hear Doja Cat it’s just so intoxicating, and infectious.

I love dancey music, too.

I’m not huge on mainstream pop, but there’s something about Doja Cat.

Talking Heads are one of my all-time favorites. Somehow there’s a link there, to me.

You can’t go wrong with Talking Heads. 

No, you can’t. Definitely not.

Getting back to Babylon, when you listen back to it, what excites you most about the album? 

To me, there’s a very clear evolution, and maturing between this album and the last album. Also, in a way, I’m lucky that it took so long to do this, because I’ve heard a lot of different iterations of these songs, like “Doctrine” has had many iterations, and now we’re finally settled on this version.

Also, our voices sound different. We’ve matured in a really wonderful way, not just because we’re all in our 40s now, and it’s been 10 years, but because we have matured as musicians, and as people, and there’s a different timbre, and I really love that.

I’m really proud of how heavy it is, how full it sounds, and it just feels very cohesive, and really like the record I wanted to make.

Finally, what about you is a huntress, and what about you is a holder of hands? 

The title comes from a song that my husband wrote for me. It’s the last song he ever wrote for me. The full lyric is, “You’re a huntress, and a healer, and a holder of hands, and your heart is the Avalon I seek for my end.”

That’s really beautiful. 

Yeah, it’s really beautiful. He wrote it when he was sick.

The rest of the song is about how I don’t take shit, and how I’m both gentle and caring, and also like super defensive, and will fight you to the death if you come after the people I love.

It’s been a really great reminder for me, as I’ve traveled through the grief, and surpassed him in age, just this journey of life for me, and being able to hold on to his words, and remind myself in my darker times of like, yeah, I am strong, and I am multifaceted, and I do have all these attributes that he loved, and I still feel that love.

It’s also very cool to be in what must feel like a new life, and still have a connection to a previous life. 

Definitely.

The band obviously accentuates that in a huge way, and being in the Devil Makes Three does, too. We were all (in) Brown Bird, but also, I would never remove Dave from who I am. He’s fully part of me now, and I feel very lucky that I get to carry that around. 

For more of The Huntress and Holder of Hands, check out thehuntressandholderofhands.net.