Northern California-based unclassifiable duo Misner & Smith have been sitting with iterations of their new album All is Song for six years. The group—consisting of Sam Misner and Megan Smith—began conceiving of the project in 2017, and writing came in fits and starts from that time until the pandemic slowed all activities to a halt. This unforeseen pause carried an unexpected gift amongst the chaos and tragedy of the era; Misner & Smith had time to pause, breathe, and reflect on these songs. They had time to digest them, perform them, and work on them in a way they had never imagined possible. The music went through an incubation period, and as such, is the most acutely powerful and transformative music of Misner & Smith’s career. The album title comes to life, and after listening to All is Song you can’t help but hear this philosophy everywhere: walking down the street, overhearing conversations, listening to the refrigerator grumble. The beauty of Misner & Smith is in the way they transform all moments—the mundane and spectacular alike—into breathtakingly beautiful music. 

 On All is Song, Misner & Smith share songs that are somehow both remarkably lived in and entirely unexpected in their ingenuity. This, in some part, can be attributed to the duo’s patience in recording and releasing the album. “The songs had been incredibly worked over, and so once we got into the studio, it gave us the ability to go even deeper with the process because we had a good enough relationship with each song,” explains Megan Smith. “We were able to pull them apart and tinker deeply within them and get the best possible results because we were so ready and prepared.” With the help of co-producer Bruce Kaphan and the occasional guest musician, Misner & Smith found their most inspired sound to date on All is Song. Central to the album’s new sound is the masterful drumming by Dillon Vado, which both frames and highlights the wide spectrum of songs in the collection. Other notable featured performances on the record include Nina Gerber’s acoustic guitar on the Kate Wolf penned “Rising of the Moon,” Skip Edwards’ multiple contributions on Hammond B3 organ, and Maeve Gilchrist’s atmospheric Celtic harp on the opening song, “Compose.” 

The music—every single choice on the album, really—revolves around a single question: “What is this song about?” Every sound on All is Song is in service of the songs. The harmonies are often subtle but always pitch-perfect, a key to the album that took some time to harness. “Harmony is almost like a sculpting tool. I use it as a tool to draw out the stories and the songs and draw out the characters that we're talking about,” explains Smith. “It's a huge part of what we do.” Adds Sam Misner, “Serving the song became the credo, so we never included a certain line, part, or harmony for its own sake. It was always, ‘How can we best serve the song? That was our lighthouse.”

 This blend of refined intentionality and raw humanism that imbues the album is apparent from its outset and courses through the veins of singles like “Anthem,” which powerfully examines the struggle to feel less alone in a world that is often actively inhospitable and disconnected. To keep swimming against that feeling of being crushed sounds terrifying, but it’s really a moment of optimism. The full-band song is built around swaggering drums, swirling organ, a bluegrass-inspired guitar line, and Misner’s rich, narrative-driven vocal performance. He sings (backed by Smith, of course), “One thing that's for sure, though we never found a cure/we can ride out heartbreak like the weather.” The song yearns for the honest connection that Misner & Smith have honed after 20 years together. “We often mistake finding a cure for what is truly the powerful thing, which is riding out the heartbreak with whatever's happening around you. That's the thing that's special. That's the thing that's powerful,” Smith explains.

It’s a beautiful search for humanity in a world that too often feels cruel and alien. All is Song is a reminder that even our darkest moments can be rescued through transcendental, metaphysical experiences of creative ecstasy. “When writing music, I’m reminded that no matter the difficulties, love is reappearing in new forms and different places,” Misner explains. The feeling that Misner & Smith get from making music is one they want everyone in the world to feel. Whether hearing their songs at a show, or even looking at a flower that brings one joy, the sense of possibility and joy looms large on All is Song. “I want our music to allow people access to the parts of themselves that they shy away from,” Misner says, before Smith adds on, “The things that make people so beautifully human.”

-Will Schube

Past Venues

Kate Wolf Music Festival Laytonville, California

Freight & Salvage Berkeley, California

American River Music Festival Coloma, California

Great American Music Hall San Francisco, California

Sweetwater Music Hall Mill Valley, California

Dusty Strings Seattle, Washington

The Palms Playhouse Winters, California

Don Quixote's Felton, California

Swallow Hill Music Denver, Colorado

Biddulf Arms Staffordshire, UK

San Francisco Old Time & Bluegrass Festival San Francisco, California

Artichoke Music Portland, Oregon

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show Ashland, Oregon

Mystic Theatre Petaluma, California

142 Throckmorton Mill Valley, California

Hopmonk Sebastopol, California

The Crepe Place Santa Cruz, California

Genghis Cohen Los Angeles, California

Coffee Gallery Backstage Altadena, California

Laurelthirst Pub Portland, Oregon

Egan's Ballard Jam House Seattle, Washington

Empty Sea Studios Seattle, Washington

The Bugle Boy La Grange, Texas

Flipnotics Austin, Texas

Starry Plough Berkeley, California

The Lost Church San Francisco, CA

SF Live Arts at Saint Cyprian's San Francisco, CA

Davis Music Fest Davis, California

San Francisco Free Folk Festival San Francisco, California