The old adage, You can’t go home again, certainly held true for Byland – the acclaimed musical project from Seattle-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Alie Renee Byland and her husband and co-writer Jake Byland. Born of a dream of home but then waylaid by disappointment, frustration, and eventual acceptance, the couple’s journey through the past led to Byland’s extraordinary new album, Heavy For A While. Fueled by Byland’s spirited, eclectic musical approach, songs like “Settle My Mind” and “Postcard” are widescreen expressions of longing and isolation, weaving deep-rooted melodies, candid lyrical communication, and sophisticated arrangements with whispers of nostalgia and an unstoppable sense of forward motion. The result is a singular vision both familiar and unprecedented, bittersweet yet strikingly life-affirming. “Music is such a gift,” Alie Renee Byland says. “It gives you a way to process, to express something that maybe you don’t have words for, or maybe once you write it in a song, you realize, ‘Oh my god, that’s how I feel.’ Those are my most real, honest, brutal thoughts. I’m so grateful for that time. It was really hard, but we made something incredible from it.” Alie Renee Byland had what can only be described as an extraordinary childhood, raised in New Mexico among a religious community led by her father.
