photo by Lauren Massie

Nicki Bluhm‘s new album To Rise You Gotta Fall is a very personal expression. As she recently told Relix, “Everybody has different ways of coping with transition and change—I write. When I started writing, I wasn’t aware that it was going to be for this record—it was something I had to do, spiritually and emotionally. I started writing the first song about two years ago at the beginning of a big shift, energetically, in my life—becoming aware that a relationship, a marriage, was on the brink and failing, and just wanting to put my energy into fixing that. So it began with trying to come to terms and understand what was happening in my life and in my relationship. With everything that I put out, being authentic is the most important thing for me, so these sentiments are true to the period of time when they were written. There was a lot of catharsis in it for me and the songs continued to follow my path up through that shift; things obviously looked different when I wrote the last song right before we went into the studio. It shows the arc of dissolve.”

Given this perspective it is quite fitting for the official video for “It’s Ok Not to be Okay” from To Rise You Gotta Fall to draw on photos than span her life and career.  Director Jeff Adamczyk, who also incorporates found images, explains, “I saw the video for Andy Schauf’s song ‘The Magician’ and I thought that it if I could use static images in a video that it would be an interesting way to help tell the story of a song. You can have images that support the main idea or ones that support the lyrics and there’s a certain nostalgic familiarity with the old ads from the 50s/60s/70s that give the stop animation a lot of character.”

Bluhm adds these thoughts on the song itself: “As human beings we experience a full spectrum of emotions; none superior to the other. We can learn so much from observing and honoring the way we feel. It is important to spend time navigating our inner landscapes; acknowledging and accepting what we find, even when our discoveries are difficult to bear. We are multifaceted, complex, sentient beings and reminding ourselves that “it’s ok not to be ok” is a form of self love and compassion. It is only when we love and accept ourselves that we can do so for others.”

Nicki Bluhm will kick off a fall tour in support of the album on November 1 in Carrboro, NC. Her tour itinerary appears below the video.

TOUR DATES
*with Gill Landry
Thu, NOV 01 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
Fri, NOV 02 Asheville, NC – Salvage Station *
Sat, NOV 03 Atlanta, GA – Terminal West *
Sun, NOV 04 Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre *
Tue, NOV 06 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Ballroom *
Wed, NOV 07 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall *
Thu, NOV 08 Minneapolis, MN – Dakota Jazz Club *
Fri, NOV 09 Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall *
Sat, NOV 10 St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House *
Mon, NOV 12 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room *
Tue, NOV 13 Kansas City, MO – Knucklehead’s *
Wed, NOV 14 Tulsa, OK – Vanguard *
Fri, NOV 16 Austin, TX – The Parish *
Sat, NOV 17 Dallas, TX – The Rustic *
Sun, NOV 18 Houston, TX – Bronze Peacock Room @ House Of Blues *
Mon, NOV 19 New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s Uptown *
Fri, NOV 30 San Rafael, CA – Terrapin Crossroads with the Coffis Brothers