The Perlich Post: Hem's brilliant "Rabbit Songs" album getting 25th anniversary vinyl release

Monday, October 13, 2025

Hem's brilliant "Rabbit Songs" album getting 25th anniversary vinyl release

Hem's timeless contemporary folk debut Rabbit Songs – featuring the haunting voice of Sally Ellyson – is coming out on vinyl November 28th.

Here's the scoop...

Hem celebrates the 25th anniversary of Rabbit Songs this fall with the album’s first-ever vinyl release on November 28th via Waveland Records. In its initial incarnation, Rabbit Songs built momentum slowly but surely. After a limited self-release in 2000 and a U.K. release on Setanta in 2001, the record gained wider attention when prominent indie Bar/None issued it in 2002. Then came major label Dreamworks, which re-released it in July 2003, but the absorption of Dreamworks into Interscope after Universal bought the label limited the album’s visibility.

It got another life in 2005 when Rounder Records reissued it after putting out the band’s 2004 album Eveningland. More fans came aboard in 2006 when insurance company Liberty Mutual featured “Half Acre” in a widely-viewed TV commercial. Rabbit Songs received widespread acclaim from prominent outlets such as NPR, which said of Sally Ellyson’s voice: “All around her, piano notes fall like raindrops, even as she sings about the flames of her heart climbing higher, a heat that makes the rain of the music evaporate into mist.”

Since Rabbit Songs has been reissued numerous times over the years – and they were going back to the original tape masters for the current vinyl reissue anyway – it would've been nice for Hem to include couple of bonus tracks. There were other recordings made around the time of the initial sessions for "Rabbit Songs" – things like "Now The Day Is Over," "Dance With Me," "Beautiful Sea," "St. Charlene," alternate takes of "Half Acre" and "When I Was Drinking," as well as the original version of "Pacific Street" which Hem re-recorded for their Eveningland album – or even some of Sally Ellyson's early vocal demos would've been delightful to hear. Of course, that would've taken some extra work. It's much easier to simply go with what's already been put out seven or eight times prior. Perhaps there will be some extras for the 30th anniversary – we can only hope.

You can pre-order a copy of Hem's "Rabbit Songs" album on vinyl right here. Listen to a few songs from the album and watch a couple of unrelated radio studio performances by Hem below.