Hem

Hem celebrates the 25th anniversary of Rabbit Songs this fall with the album’s first-ever vinyl release plus a digital version, fully remastered. The digital release will include the bonus track “St. Charlene,” a tune from the Rabbit Songs era that previously was found only on a hard-to-find EP. In its initial incarnation, Rabbit Songs built momentum slowly but surely. After a limited self-release in 2000 and a U.K. release on Setanta in 2001, the record gained wider attention when prominent indie Bar/None issued it in 2002. Then came major label Dreamworks, which re-released it in July 2003, but the absorption of Dreamworks into Interscope after Universal bought the label limited the album’s visibility. It got another life in 2005 when Rounder Records reissued it after releasing the band’s 2004 album Eveningland. More fans came aboard in 2006 when insurance company Liberty Mutual featured “Half Acre” in a widely-viewed TV commercial. Rabbit Songs received widespread acclaim from prominent outlets such as NPR, which said of Ellyson’s voice: “All around her, piano notes fall like raindrops, even as she sings about the flames of her heart climbing higher, a heat that makes the rain of the music evaporate into mist.”