HoneyBones’ “The Call of Baba Yaga” draws on Eastern European folklore to build a song around a mysterious invitation. The lyrics begin with a call to loosen the imagination, then move into images of temples, earth, and the northern lights. Baba Yaga’s name keeps coming back, but she never explains herself.
The verses get stranger as they go. “Moment eats the time” leads to the claim that beauty is a crime, followed by a rendezvous with fate and a naked dinner on a plate. The images don’t add up to a clear story, and that seems fitting for a song about a figure who lives outside the rules of the ordinary world. The refrain keeps asking who will answer her call, without telling us what happens next.
Melinda Joy and Juro Kosec built from the instrumentation to the final mix together. Their shared interest in folklore and the landscapes of Iceland gives the song its setting, but the lyrics leave plenty unexplained. Baba Yaga calls again, and the song ends before anyone gives her an answer.
