The Mynabirds
It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward

On November 7, The Mynabirds will release their anticipated new album It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward on Laura Burhenn’s own Our Secret Handshake imprint. The band has shared the album’s lead single, “Ramona, Patron Saint Of Silence,” streaming now on Apple Music, Bandcamp, and YouTube.

Speaking about the single, Burhenn says:

“After the release of my last record in 2017, my voice fell silent. I buried myself in production work, helping other artists make music videos and films. I didn't even want to touch the piano. I privately worried I'd sung every song I had in me, and publicly joked that I’d retired from singing altogether. But after losing my best friend, my dog, and my grandmother in quick succession in the middle of the pandemic, something cracked open. Sitting in an Appalachian hot spring after a grueling shoot, I finally stopped moving for the first time in years — and in that stillness, I saw how much pain I'd been avoiding, and heard the faintest whisper of my own voice calling me back.”

“‘Ramona’ was born from that moment — a song to a fictional Patron Saint of Silence, thanking her for keeping me and my voice alive. It’s about how silence can protect you temporarily, comfort you, and ultimately teach you that your voice is your greatest strength. In a time when so many are forced into silence by trauma, oppression, or survival, the song imagines a future where voices rise together in a collective choir, burning down broken systems and refusing to let those in power destroy us. For me, it’s a reminder that music isn’t something I make to sell — it’s medicine. And I still need it to survive.”

Since releasing her debut as The Mynabirds in 2010 on Saddle Creek (with the first two albums produced by Richard Swift), Burhenn has proven herself a true musical shapeshifter. She has toured the world with her own band (including two NPR Tiny Desk performances); performed as a live member of The Postal Service and Foster the People; and sung at rallies alongside Bernie Sanders and other musicians and activists, using her platform to amplify immigrant, queer, environmental, and human rights issues. Through her production company, Our Secret Handshake, she’s produced music videos, commercials and concert films including Hayley Williams (Paramore), The War On Drugs, Animal Collective, Phoebe Bridgers, The Rolling Stones, and Ringo Starr.

Across four acclaimed albums, The Mynabirds have reinvented themselves with every release: from the soul and Americana roots of What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, to the fiery folk-pop of Generals, the synth-soaked intimacy of Lovers Know, and the bombastic pop-rock ballads of Be Here Now. With It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward, Burhenn strips it all down to the core.

The new record features three original songs alongside stripped-back acoustic versions of seven Mynabirds favorites. Recorded at 64 Sound and produced by Rilo Kiley’s Pierre de Reeder, Burhenn tracked grand piano and vocals live in the room, joined by musicians playing without overdubs, autotune, or digital instrumentation.

“I felt like I went through a complete ego death with this record — going back to how I first learned to write songs: just me and the piano, late at night, using music as therapy,” Burhenn says. “The record is imperfect, raw, and deeply human, made in a fast-paced, hi-tech time. I joked about calling it AI Could Never.”

In addition to releasing this new record, Laura is continuing her activist work by leading the "Disarm Spotify" charge as part of the BDS movement to divest from war and refocus our collective energy on creative -- rather than destructive -- solutions for our collective survival. She has removed all her music from Spotify in protest of Daniel Ek's investment in Helsing, along with fellow musicians Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu and Kadhja Bonet.

It’s Okay To Go Back If You Keep Moving Forward will this fall on vinyl and all streaming platforms, except Spotify.