![\"Magpie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magpie-single-artwork-by-Tahlia-Amanson-350x350.jpg\")
Magpie \u2013 Myra Lee\nCan\u2019t touch the ground
I\u2019m on a ladder
trying to reach the
the room light socket
\nheard the telephone
ran to mother\u2019s room
up the spiral staircase
with no railing to hold<\/p>\n
\n Brooklyn indie rock trio Myra Lee turn fractured family history into a feverish, slow-burning storm on their debut single \u201cMagpie,\u201d reintroducing themselves through an invigorating barrage of tension, urgency, and emotional release.
\nStream: \u201cMagpie\u201d \u2013 Myra Lee<\/p>\n
Memory has a way of climbing back into the present without warning \u2013 in fragments, in echoes, in the half-told stories that shape who we become before we fully understand them.<\/p>\n
Family histories don\u2019t always arrive neatly; they linger in the background, in the silences between conversations, in the details we inherit without asking. That tension \u2013 between what\u2019s known and what\u2019s withheld, between curiosity and distance \u2013 pulses at the core of Myra Lee\u2019s debut single \u201cMagpie,\u201d a smoldering song that turns generational fracture into a visceral, immediate, and all-consuming experience.<\/p>\n
Guitars crash and coil around one another, rising with a restless, almost cinematic urgency as Tahlia Amanson\u2019s voice cuts through with striking clarity. There\u2019s a push and pull at play throughout \u2013 between sweetness and strain, light and weight \u2013 that mirrors the emotional terrain beneath the surface. \u201cMagpie\u201d doesn\u2019t just revisit the past; it drags it into the present, reframing memory as both a burden and a source of identity. The result is a feverish indie rock slow-burn that transforms inherited pain into a living, breathing force.<\/p>\n
Magpie \u2013 Myra Lee
\nCan\u2019t touch the ground
I\u2019m on a ladder
trying to reach the
the room light socket
\nheard the telephone
ran to mother\u2019s room
up the spiral staircase
with no railing to hold<\/p>\n
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering \u201cMagpie,\u201d the feverish, slow-burning lead single from Myra Lee\u2019s debut album Capture the Flag, out June 26th. Formerly known as Dino Expedition, the Brooklyn-based trio of Tahlia Amanson (vocals\/guitar), Aiden Velazquez (bass), and McCabe Teems (drums) step into a bold new chapter under the name Myra Lee, a shared identity that reflects both their collective evolution and creative unity. What began as Amanson\u2019s solo songwriting project has grown into a fully realized band, each member shaping the music\u2019s texture and intensity \u2013 from Teems\u2019 driving, instinctive percussion to Velazquez\u2019s fluid, grounding bass lines and Amanson\u2019s open-tuned guitar work that swells with feedback and feeling.<\/p>\n
Dino Expedition Dwell in Memory & Raw Emotion on \u2018Thanks a Million,\u2019 an Intensely Intimate Indie Rock Debut:: FEATURE ::<\/p>\n The name itself carries intention: Inspired by Myra Lee, the 1996 debut album from Cat Power, the band\u2019s new moniker functions as both homage and transformation \u2013 a fictionalized persona that blurs the line between artist and character. Since their formation, the trio have immersed themselves in a city alive with collaboration and constant motion, pulling from a lineage of \u201990s indie rock icons like Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Electrelane, and Sonic Youth while carving out a sound that feels raw, expansive, and distinctly their own.<\/p>\n Following their 2024 debut Thanks a Million \u2013 an intensely intimate, memory-driven release that Atwood Magazine praised as \u201ca heavy-hitting and deeply human indie rock album that aches inside and out with the weight of memory and raw emotion\u201d \u2013 Myra Lee return with renewed energy, sounding bolder, louder, and more sonically adventurous than ever. Recorded live with an emphasis on immediacy and emotional detail, Capture the Flag expands their palette with strings, layered instrumentation, and a deeper dive into personal history, tracing themes of family, distance, and reflection with striking specificity.<\/p>\n At the center of it all is \u201cMagpie,\u201d a song that introduces this new era with both force and feeling.<\/p>\n As Tahlia Amanson explains, the song was inspired by a distant, fragmented connection to her father\u2019s side of the family \u2013 a relationship shaped more by absence and secondhand understanding than lived experience, where stories were filtered, withheld, or left incomplete. In writing \u201cMagpie,\u201d she draws a line between that inherited disconnect and the figures who defined her upbringing, using the symbol as both a reflection of familial fracture and a way of processing the behaviors she witnessed in her youth.<\/p>\n \u201cI can only remember one time when I met my aunt Maggie,\u201d she tells Atwood Magazine. \u201cOut of fear from my father\u2019s past, he kept my sisters and me separated from his family. While I use \u2018Magpie\u2019 as a symbol for the misfortune of my family\u2019s relationship, I also see it describing my mother\u2019s tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n That history hums throughout every second of \u201cMagpie,\u201d but the band never lets the weight sit still. The song surges forward on sheer momentum \u2013 guitars stacking and straining, drums pushing harder with each pass, every element feeding into a slow, deliberate climb that feels both controlled and on the verge of collapse. What begins as a smolder gradually catches fire, each chorus arriving with greater intensity, greater release. There\u2019s a kinetic thrill in the way Myra Lee stretch the tension over the song\u2019s five and a half minutes, letting it coil and tighten before finally breaking open, Amanson\u2019s voice guiding the chaos with a steady, luminous presence.<\/p>\n That sense of ascent mirrors the song\u2019s inner world. The lyrics move like memory itself \u2013 fragmented, vivid, and slightly off-balance \u2013 placing us inside moments that feel both achingly distant and eerily present. \u201ccan\u2019t touch the ground \/ I\u2019m on a ladder \/ trying to reach the \/ the room light socket\u201d opens on an image of instability, of reaching without grounding, before the scene shifts: \u201cheard the telephone \/ ran to mother\u2019s room \/ up the spiral staircase \/ with no railing to hold.\u201d Each line builds on that unease, tracing a childhood shaped by absence, distance, and unanswered questions.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t leave this place When Amanson sings, \u201cCan\u2019t leave this place \/ I don\u2019t know you Magpie,\u201d the song\u2019s emotional core comes into focus. There\u2019s longing there, but also confrontation \u2013 a reckoning with inherited stories and the people who live inside them. The magpie itself becomes layered with meaning, carrying both folklore\u2019s omen of misfortune and the personal weight of fractured family ties. Even the line, \u201cChose faith instead of facing the past\u201d lands with remarkable force, capturing the generational deflection that lingers long after the moment has passed.<\/p>\n In Myra Lee\u2019s hands, these snapshots don\u2019t just recount history \u2013 they give it motion, urgency, and sound.<\/p>\n \u201cMagpie\u201d doesn\u2019t resolve its tensions so much as it inhabits them, letting every chord, every lyric, every swell of noise carry the past forward into the present, where it continues to echo, evolve, and demand to be felt.<\/p>\n That push and pull \u2013 between heaviness and release, memory and momentum \u2013 is exactly where the band feel most at home. As drummer McCabe Teems puts it, \u201cit will swirl around in your ear; you might like it!\u201d \u2013 a fittingly offhand description for a song that refuses to sit still, instead circling, building, and pulling listeners deeper with every pass.<\/p>\n Below, Myra Lee dive deeper into the origins of \u201cMagpie,\u201d the evolution behind their new name, and the creative chemistry that defines this next chapter \u2013 offering a closer look at the stories, sounds, and shared vision shaping Capture the Flag. Stream the indie rock trio\u2019s second debut single exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and get lost in the fuzz and rush, the charm and churn of Myra Lee as they come into their own with music that hits hard and lingers long after the last note fades.<\/p>\n Capture the Flag is out June 26.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n :: stream\/purchase Magpie\u00a0here<\/a> :: \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n Stream: \u201cMagpie\u201d \u2013 Myra Lee<\/p>\n A CONVERSATION WITH MYRA LEE<\/p>\n Atwood Magazine: Myra Lee, for those who are just discovering you today through this writeup, what do you want them to know about you and your music? <\/p>\n Tahlia Amanson: You know, it\u2019s a good mixture of overdrive guitar, a buildup of sound that meets a lighter, more quaint voice. It\u2019s pretty music, very versatile. Some have said they can see some of the songs being in a coming-of-age film?!<\/p>\n McCabe Teems: It will swirl around in your ear; you might like it!<\/p>\n This is your first release under your new name since making music as Dino Expedition. Can you tell us a bit more about the name change, and what inspired the pseudonym \u2018Myra Lee\u2019? <\/p>\n Tahlia: Cabe and Aiden joined the band after the initial creation of Dino Expedition. We\u2019ve been a band for about a year and a half now, and while I write all the songs, we all collectively bring our own ideas, whether it\u2019s Cabe\u2019s drums parts, my endless open tunings, or Aiden\u2019s bass licks. At the end of the day, we wanted it to feel more like our band, something that we named together. A few months ago, we sat at Martha\u2019s Bakery in Williamsburg, brainstorming ideas. Cabe always liked my first band name \u2018Tahls\u2019, but I wanted something that wasn\u2019t my name. I think we really fell in love with the idea of having this \u201cstage name,\u201d a fictional character in a way. Since renaming, some people have thought my name was actually Myra, it\u2019s pretty silly!<\/p>\n McCabe: To me, Dino Expedition didn\u2019t fit the general aesthetic qualities we were trying to present. Myra Lee is the name of Cat Power\u2019s first record, an artist we all love and admire.<\/p>\n Who are some of your musical north stars, and what are you most excited about the music you’re making today? <\/p>\n Tahlia: Electrelane, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Daughter, Silversun Pickups. It\u2019s been super thrilling to experiment with different instruments, sounds, and genres. All of us have such a diverse taste in music, I believe it truly helps to keep the music we create alive and interesting.<\/p>\n McCabe: The Blue Nile, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, PJ Harvey, Arthur Russell, Crystal Castles. I love that we get to play music that\u2019s tonally very sweet and pretty but we play it very loud and with strain and grip. Favorite combo.<\/p>\n What has your experience been like as an indie rock band in Brooklyn? Do you find the city has a direct, or indirect, impact on your music? <\/p>\n Tahlia: This city crawls with artists from all mediums, not just music. I love being able to work with other artists through music, being able to uplift all of our art together, like a community. Since moving to Brooklyn five years ago, I do believe that my sound has gone through several different chapters, each one being more and more influenced by this big, yet small city.<\/p>\n McCabe: The great thing about living in a big city is that you will always meet new people and discover new artists and bands just by going to random shows around town. Infinite freshness.<\/p>\n In so many ways, \u201cMagpie\u201d is your second debut single \u2013 and that\u2019s a special role for it to play. Why reintroduce yourselves with this song? <\/p>\n McCabe: \u201cMagpie\u201d is one of my favorite songs Tahlia has written. Before I joined the band, I remember Tahls playing a solo set at Columbia University and that was the song that really stood out to me. I just think it\u2019s an important one.<\/p>\n Tahlia: On this new record, we really experimented with more instruments (i.e. cello, viola, e-bow). \u201cMagpie\u201d felt like a great introduction to the new chapter of the band, and the expansion of our sound\/vision.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the story behind this song, and what is it about for you? <\/p>\n Tahlia: I wrote \u201cMagpie\u201d when I moved back to New York in 2022 after recording in Memphis, Tennessee with Calvin Lauber. The song references my estranged relationship with my fathers side of the family, specifically my Aunt Maggie. I can only recall a few times when we spoke over the phone; my mother always being the catalyst. I wanted the song to also touch on the perspective that I had on my mother growing up. There are multiple definitions for the word \u2018Magpie\u2019; one being the bird, which in British folklore, seeing a singular Magpie can indicate misfortune. The other definition refers to the behavioral elements of a chatterbox \/ hoarder, aka my mother.<\/p>\n This is also the lead single off Myra Lee’s upcoming debut LP, Capture the Flag. How does this track fit into the overall narrative of the album? <\/p>\n Tahlia: In the past few years, I\u2019ve started to write more about my father\u2019s side of the family; something that has always been a touchy subject. \u201cMagpie\u201d was one of the first songs to focus on that aspect of my life. Every song on the record has this underlying theme, a rather reflection of the past. \u201cMagpie\u201d felt like a good mixture of reflection, some vengefulness, as well as being grateful; all of these feelings play crucial roles within the stories on this record.<\/p>\n We last covered Dino Expedition’s LP Thanks a Million at the end of 2024, calling it a \u201cheavy-hitting and deeply human indie rock album that aches inside and out with the weight of memory and raw emotion\u201d at the time. What can fans of that record expect from this new one? <\/p>\n McCabe: Hopefully people feel moved to use similar adjectives.<\/p>\n Tahlia: I would say Capture the Flag goes deeper into that memory and raw emotion than Thanks A Million. While the song writing on this new record focuses more closely on specific events and detail, our use of\u00a0live recording all the songs, to me, feels like it truly draws out the full story, kinda like the instruments are speaking.<\/p>\n What do you hope listeners take away from \u201cMagpie,\u201d and what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?<\/p>\n Tahlia: For me, \u201cMagpie\u201d is one of my more fun and giddy songs, obviously not in the aspect of storyline, but the instrumentals are very much upbeat. I think \u201cMagpie\u201d is a song to dance to, or listen to on a long road trip, blasting it in the car \u2013 that\u2019s something I hope listeners take away after hearing the song. From being in the studio, to playing this song live, I learned that I love trying to replicate the sounds of an old car through instruments, and that\u2019s what really felt special about the string usage, particularly in this song, it kinda rawrs\u2026 I love it!<\/p>\n \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n :: stream\/purchase Magpie\u00a0here<\/a> :: \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n Stream: \u201cMagpie\u201d \u2013 Myra Lee<\/p>\n \u2014 \u2014 \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n Connect to Myra Lee on Instagram<\/a> ![\"Myra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/myra-lee-grand-army-plaza-1.jpg\")
Myra Lee \u00a9 Laila Holmes<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know you Magpie
Betrayed your brother
So long ago
\nHe didn\u2019t forget
The baggage you kept
Chose faith instead of
facing the past<\/p>\n![\"Myra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/myra-lee-grand-army-plaza-2.jpg\")
Myra Lee \u00a9 Laila Holmes<\/p>\n
\n:: connect with Myra Lee here<\/a> ::<\/p>\n![\"Magpie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magpie-single-artwork-by-Tahlia-Amanson-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Myra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/myra-lee-press-pic-3.jpg\")
Myra Lee \u00a9 Laila Holmes<\/p>\n
\n:: connect with Myra Lee here<\/a> ::<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nDiscover new music on Atwood Magazine<\/a>
\n![\"?\"\/](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/11.2.0\/svg\/1f4f8.svg\")
\u00a9 Laila Holmes
\n\ud83d\uddbc\ufe0f \u00a9 Tahlia Amanson<\/p>\n