In the winter of 2020, Byrne had recently moved to Chicago from California to be closer to Eric Littmann, her longtime creative collaborator. After a first attempt at recording “Not Even Happiness” in Brooklyn, where they struggled to capture a tranquillity amid the chaos, Littmann and Byrne relocated to her childhood home in Buffalo for four months. But in June of that year, Littmann died suddenly at 31. Byrne declined to speak to the circumstances of his death, which remains a profoundly destabilizing loss. “He was a truly brilliant person, he had so much faith in me and what we had set out to do together — that never wavered,” Byrne said.

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Persons: Byrne, Eric Littmann, Littmann, Steve Sobs, Emily Yacina, tinker, ” Byrne, Wings ”, ” Organizations: Greater Wings, Wings Locations: Chicago, California, South, New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo