Photo: Garry Velletri

Brooklyn singer-songwriter Shannon McArdle returns this summer with Fear the Dream of Axes, her second solo effort since splitting with indie-twang band the Mendoza Line in 2007. “Warden” is the first single and finds McArdle’s hushed voice gliding over a gentle guitar line, where she sings about jail keeper, who’s captured her heart (metaphorically speaking). “I suppose it was in part inspired by Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” and other traditional folk songs involving wardens,” McArdle tells Hive. “My warden seems to hold the key to the prisoner’s heart. She (the prisoner) has conflicting emotions of wanting to be freed and wanting to be wanted and kept by the warden.” In other words, it’s a catch-22 love song, sung beautifully.

Fear the Dream of Axes arrives July 31 on Bar/None. Stream and download “Warden” below