Fenne Lily presents her new single, “Dawncolored Horse,” from her forthcoming album, Big Picture, out April 14th on Dead Oceans. Following the “stunning ballad” (Uproxx) of a lead single, “Lights Light Up,” “Dawncolored Horse” provides an uplifting meditation on the freedom that comes with closeness. Taking its title from a Richard Brautigan poem, “The Horse That Had A Flat Tire,” Fenne interprets the poem — and the song it inspired — to be a reflection of the idea that another person can become almost a sentient space in which to exist. “[Brautigan] talks about the woman he loves as being a ‘breathing castle.’ I truly don’t know what that means, but for me he’s distilled a feeling of absolute closeness. When you know someone so well it feels like you’re almost living inside them. That can be claustrophobic,” she adds, “but before it’s too much, it’s incredible.”
“A lot of the music I was listening to while I was writing seemed to be old kind of country stuff; the album Anymore For Anymore by Ronnie Lane and Slim Change was a big one (‘hear Roll On Babe from ’74’) — anything that sounded warm and comfortable, just people in a room playing what came most naturally. When I brought this song to the band it easily fell into that sort of world — it felt stable, which is cool for a song that came from a place of total instability.” Backing Fenne on vocals and rhythm guitar are Joe Sherrin (lead guitars), Kane Eagle (bass), James Luxton (drums), Phil Cook (banjo) and Brad Cook (mellotron).
