Tom Freund & Mai Bloomfield Bring “April Come She Will” from Isolation

Video of the two friends performing this Paul Simon classic in lockdown

American Songwriter is happy to bring you this video today of Tom Freund with Mai Bloomfield performing Paul Simon’s beautiful “April Come She Will,” originally recorded by Simon and Garfunkel.

Tom Freund’s a beloved and acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. A New York native, he teamed up with Ben Harper in 1992 and released the album Pleasure and Pain. Then he played bass with the Silos and moved to Austin before releasing his first solo album, North American Long Weekend. Since then he’s been on a perpetual creative roll, releasing great albums of solid songwriting. His most recent, and maybe his best album yet, is the inspirational Angeleno song cycle East of Lincoln.

Mai Bloomfield is a singer-songwriter and cellist. She plays with her band fifteen years, Raining Jane, as well as Jason Mraz, Adam Cohen, Sara Bareilles and Willy Porter. In 2016 she performed on Leonard Cohen’s album You Want It Darker.

Along with her Raining Jane bandmates of fifteen years, she co-wrote Jason Mraz’s chart-topping album Yes! (2014) as well as his 2018 hit single “Have It All.” 

Here’s Tom on the pathway that led him to collaborate with Mai on “April Come She Will” :

TOM FREUND: “After this being the strangest April ever, with the pandemic and the isolation of all, and also the remote communications – I couldn’t get this song out of my head. And it felt healing to play. It spoke of simpler times but also had that wonderfully mysterious and naturally sad feeling of natural life and death stuff.

“Mai heard it, and reached out to me that it really hit her hard, cause her mom had just passed on at the top of April from a long health bout unrelated to current conditions.

“I asked her then if she were up for playing it with me and recording it and each filming it; she would do it from her sequester in Santa Barbara. She said she would like that and found it healing to play, and said it was good for her to return to the cello and voice.

“The song also speaks of timing being slowed down. Going through the months. Something we are all feeling.

“My friend Pamela Adlon – from Better Things – heard it and said “I’m July!” People relate to the months and who they are.

“What a masterpiece of a song it is to be able to do that. It keeps evoking different people I know while I’m singing it. Very moving. Sign o the times. 

Cheers, T.

And from Mai Bloomfield:

“When I heard Tom do the song one night on a live post, my heart leapt – not only for a favorite song, but one that resonated so much with thoughts of the passing of time. And being deep in the grieving of my mom’s passing, it was indeed a gentle pull to express something musically, when I was feeling especially quiet. Tom is awesome and I’m so grateful he was up for the collaboration.”