Fruit Bats
A River Running to Your Heart
Merge Records
14 April 2023
Fruit Bats has finally graduated, and A River Running to Your Heart is their first step into the big time. As Eric D. Johnson admits (in our interview here), “I’ve never even really gotten up to traveling on tour buses. I’m still in a 15-passenger van. I’m driving half the time, still after 20 years.” But the past couple of years has changed all that. Working with Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman in Bonny Light Horseman struck a chord that began to branch out. Suddenly, things started to change, and Johnson now has a chance to become someone with a tour bus.
More than that, he has been one of the most honest song writers, and when on “Rushin’ River Valley”, he sings, “Could I be your North Star? Or maybe a river running to your heart/ My love is what the flood/ Can’t wash away,” you are swept up in the emotion of a man with a guitar in his hands and love in his heart. Johnson’s production seems to frame the song perfectly, the beat moving things along brightly while Johnson and his band manoeuvre the song like the titular river of the album.
The simple guitar that initially frames “We Used to Live Here” establishes a theme that begins to tug at the heartstrings as the moving van, filled to the brim, begins the move toward somewhere new. “Do you remember this place?/ We used to call this our home/ We were the perfect age/ And the rent was so low.” The feelings may change over time, as Johnson notes, but at the end of the day, the memories made there last a lifetime.
Memories also figure heavily in the soundscape of “It All Comes Back,” where the pandemic played a role in losing a sense of who we were and where we were going. But at the end of the day, “We lost some time/ But we can make it back/ Let’s take it easy on ourselves/ Okay?/ It’s like riding a bike.” Reassuring words framed against a background of acoustic guitar, bass and keys that strike a conciliatory tone that is needed going forward. It is very much like riding a bike, and we can come out of almost anything if we choose to do so.
For any musician on the road (or any traveller for that matter), “Jesus Tap Dancing Christ (It’s Good to Be Home)” is pretty much the perfect antidote for the blues that come with travelling. With the bass drum laying down the beat and the acoustic guitars fully engaged, Johnson makes his emotions perfectly clear: “Never knew that it could feel this nice/ Oh woah-woah-woah-woah, oh woah-oh/ Jesus tap dancing Christ/ Feels good to be home.”
Eric D Johnson takes us home on Fruit Bats’ A River Running to Your Heart, enabling us to see the world where we live in a light of hope and comfort thanks to those we care about most.
Order A River Running To Your Heart via Bandcamp
For upcoming tour dates and more, visit: http://www.fruitbatsmusic.com/