B-Side Guys

Ken Kunins wrote this song after ten years of creative drought, and you can hear that urgency in every line. “The Sorrow You Are Drawn To” emerged during a burst of rediscovered inspiration, capturing the moment of reclaiming artistic voice with sombre tone, dramatic strings, and traditional folk sensibility. The Brisbane/Meanjin father-daughter duo pairs it with “The Levee” as a double single reviving the A-side/B-side format—recorded back-to-back, they function as complementary flavours that, as 21-year-old Lily Maia puts it, pair like perfect wine and cheese.

The production maintains sparse elegance, recorded at The Kunins’ home studio with Ken producing and mixing, mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Camilo Silva. The strings add weight without overwhelming the folk foundation, supporting rather than decorating. Ken’s influences (Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Paul Simon) surface in the songwriting’s attention to capturing moments in time, while Lily Maia—already demonstrating voice and ability beyond her years—brings her own evolving range of influences absorbed like a sponge.

The lyrics document the specific anxiety of creative silence breaking: feeling breathless, restless, suppressed, too much invested. Ken sings about wisdom fleeting, writers stealing words off ceilings, just trying to get through the chatter without disaster. But the central instruction cuts through the uncertainty: when days, months, and years start to disappear, you better grab that lightning bolt and make it last. When memories haunt you like the sorrow you’re drawn to, same directive—grab it, make it last. There’s acceptance that you might not catch it, as Ken notes, but determination to try anyway.

With Ken’s storied career spanning 11 albums, US tours, TV and film placements, and running indie label Underhill Recordings across 24 years in Brisbane, he understands what a decade of silence costs. “The Sorrow You Are Drawn To” doesn’t just describe breaking through—it enacts it, proving that sometimes the songs worth writing are the ones that emerge after you’ve convinced yourself they won’t come anymore.