SOVEREIGNTY HYMNS 4 and 5 Were made in conversation with each other, and are companion pieces. We hope you’ll listen to both and share both as feels right! Hymn 4: a new prayer Hymn 5: I need a new ritual Miscarriage and abortion are normal and common parts of the human experience, but are often experienced in secrecy or even shame. When I had my first miscarriage I genuinely didn’t think I knew anyone else who had had one, and I felt powerfully alone. I wished for art about it, songs about it, movies about it, books about it, and maybe most of all I wished there was a ceremony or ritual to help me honor and release my experience. We spoke about this longing with our friend @adriennemareebrown the brilliant and radical writer, music maker, future-creator, spell-caster, curator, doula and human. The result was these two hymns, which are in conversation with each other and meant to be held together. A note on flow singing: The verses Abigail sings in this piece are “flow-sung”, or term for a kind of prayerful song making that happens improvisationally, and is meant more as an offering that continues to change than an artwork that will always be sung the same way. This feels in deep alignment with the practice adrienne offers here too which she calls “singing her feeling”. We hope the openness of this form invites you to try it yourself! Sing along, name the ritual YOU need, it doesn’t matter what it sounds like, it matters that it’s from you. Thank you @lajollaplayhouse for commissioning and supporting this series! @iankagey @ersicala @sarahlunnie @amysi