Nearly two decades after “Mother Mother”, Tracy Bonham is now a mother herself. She and her husband adopted a Ethiopian boy, and the arduous process of international adoption and the joy of raising a young son, who is now five, serves as the inspiration for Bonham’s fifth album, and first in five years. Brooding, whimsical, and loving, Wax and Gold is a vibrant piece of work, and the track “Black Tears”, which you can hear below, veers more towards the melancholy side, with Bonham offering comfort like only a mother can.
“This song is about how precarious life can be,” she explains. “We cannot choose the situations in which we are born, but we can choose the paths we take. Becoming a mother to an adopted child has made me think about chance and about choices.”
Wax & Gold will be released 21 August.