Over the course of his career, Joss Whedon helmed Buffy The Vampire Slayer, cowrote Toy Story, created Firefly, wrote and directed The Avengers, and cowrote a folk album. One of those feels out of place, but yes, Whedon really does have an album you can listen to right now. Don’t expect to hear him pick up a guitar and sing, though: In his collaboration with Austin, Texas musician Shawnee Kilgore, he provided the lyrics. What’s also interesting is how this partnership came to be.
In 2014, Kilgore created a Kickstarter campaign to fund her album A Long And Precious Road. At the time, Whedon happened to be browsing the site and came across (and enjoyed) the project, so he donated. The tier he donated for entitled him to a custom song written for him, and in their communications, Whedon asked Kilgore if she’d like to collaborate on an album. As you may have figured, they did, and now we have Back To Eden, a six-track EP of gentle folk.
Press materials describe the EP as an “intimate collection of their musical conversations about being alone and figuring out who that is, an examination of the self and the things in us that change, or shouldn’t change.” Kilgore’s voice is light and pure, while Whedon’s words paint quite the lyrical picture, such as on the title track: “There’s a blackbird on the bar / picking cherries from a tin / There’s a scream of daylight / every time the door swings / someone in / There’s a gleaming copper pool of warm / can wash away my sin.”
What do you think of Whedon and Kilgore’s album? Pretty good, right? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Featured image: shawneekilgore/Soundcloud
