Start off your day with a big emotional lump in your throat by listening to “Hold My Hand,” Wild Pink’s tender new song featuring Julien Baker.
Wild Pink songwriter John Ross conceived the tune after a procedure to treat cancer. “I wrote that song right after my first surgery, about lying on the operating table where a member of the surgical team held my hand right before I went under,” he said in a statement. “It sounds kind of arbitrary, and like it shouldn’t have been as impactful as it was, but I felt very comforted and wanted to capture that loving feeling in the song.”
He continued, “I knew pretty quickly that I wanted it to be a duet, and I’m super grateful to Julien for joining me on it. This was one of the first songs we rehearsed together as a band in the studio and David’s piano part felt great almost immediately. There were a couple moments like that in the recording process where a song just immediately fell into place as soon as we started playing it.”
“Hold My Hand” is a wrecking ball to the heart, built around searching strings and tender keys. “When it’s late at night and I don’t understand/ Everything that’s happened to me,” Baker sings, “And my rotten mind is quietly tense/ Like a deer underneath the apple tree.” Their voices join together on the simple plea of the chorus: “Hold my hand.” Check it out below.
“Hold My Hand” appears on Wild Pink’s highly-anticipated new album ILYSM, out October 14th. Pre-orders are ongoing. That same month, the band will hit the road on a North American and European tour. Book your seats here.
Meanwhile, Baker recently wrapped up her “Wild Hearts Tour” with Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten. Read our review of the penultimate performance here.
