Bunnie turns religious ideas of forgiveness back on those who rejected her on ‘Prodigal Son’, a raw reflection on coming out as queer, leaving the church and losing the community around her. “Everyone who said they loved me stopped talking to me,” she explains. “It broke me, but slowly, I regained my voice.”
Fuzzy, distorted guitar immediately places the track in 90s alternative-rock territory before the arrangement pulls back for Bunnie’s vocal to take centre stage. Quieter distortion lingers beneath the verses before explosive drums and heavier guitars break through. There are shades of Alanis Morissette in both the sound and Bunnie’s delivery, which grows increasingly defiant and confrontational, with flashes of sarcasm cutting through the hurt.
That bite gives ‘Prodigal Son’ its power. Bunnie wonders whether those who abandoned her still pray for her, before turning the question around and asking whether perhaps they want her forgiveness. In the biblical story, the prodigal son eventually returns to a loving welcome; Bunnie instead questions the love and tolerance preached by a community that shut her out. She’s not asking to be welcomed back — she’s asking who really needs forgiveness.
