For Brian Macdonald's debut album under the name Victor Mucho, he leaned into seclusion. Macdonald left the comfort of his Tennessee home with his wife Maddie and retreated to the remote island of Gotland, Sweden. The extreme scenic change resulted in him working with producer Tobias Fröberg and writing and recording the album Moonlight in Visby. And the latest look we get at his first full-length is a tender folk duet with Nashville musician Molly Parden called "so terribly hurt."
On the new single, Mucho and Parden confront the complications of love between two different perspectives. Here, love is much more than butterflies in your stomach and elation. Over braided mandolins and cozy acoustic guitar, the two weather the heavy relationship winds in hopes they'll make it out of the storm. "I know our forever / Is stronger than any of my words," Mucho sings. Parden's verse hints at an unmentioned incident and the difficulty of moving forward: "But I can’t forget the past / And all the questions that you never asked." It's a felt performance that contends with the lush, expanding background of artists like Saintseneca or Bowerbirds.
Macdonald says that the song was "written and recorded in the middle of a dark Swedish winter." He adds that it "embodies the cold, lonely side of love. The person who you love most is also the person you are capable of hurting the most. I am honored to have my friend, Molly Parden, singing verse two on the song. Her voice brings a transcendent and ethereal quality to a vulnerable moment in the album."
Check out the video for "so terribly hurt" below.
