Nashville artist Mali Velasquez is set to release her debut album I’m Green on October 13 via Acrophase Records (Ginger Root, Blaketheman1000, Winona Forever). Out now, “Medicine,” her latest single and the last preview of I’m Green, is lush and expansive. At first, a delicate folk song, veined with a desire to help someone, it’s eventually engulfed in a cathartic eruption of guitars and drums. Velasquez and producer Josef Kuhn (Samia, Annie DiRusso, Hannah Cole) seamlessly blend the realms of indie folk and grunge, creating something that acknowledges the satisfaction in recognizing your own limitations. Of the track, she offers:
“Medicine was an extremely cathartic song to write. It’s about overextending myself without regard for any consequences of smothering or overwhelming the person and feeling guilty for doing it. It’s also about a lot of imbalances in relationships that are everywhere and ingrained in us socially.”
Velasquez has been garnering apt comparisons to Big Thief, Lomelda, and Julien Baker after revealing the music videos for her previous two singles: “Tore” and “Bobby.” NYLON says, “Velasquez’s textured, weathered vocals is the lacquer on her lush folk-rock songs,” and Paste Magazine praises, “’Bobby’ is one of the most moving, visceral and generous tracks you’ll hear this month, maybe all year.” Glide Magazine adds, “This might be the first time you’re hearing the name Mali Velasquez and from this point on you’ll never forget it.”
Writing and recording I’m Green allowed Velasquez to confront feelings of shame, a tendency towards self-sabotage, and the isolating stages of grief. “Bobby” opens the album through the eyes of a high school-aged Velasquez as she attempts to catalog memories following the loss of her mother. She takes us on a journey to her hometown in West Texas, delivering a unique perspective laced with painful honesty. “Getting these songs out has been really healing for me,” she says.
“Before, the way I was grieving was just kind of holding it all in, waiting for it to release. These songs have given me a new perspective on grief. At one time, I didn’t think anything good could come from this. There’s nothing left of my mom on the planet, and that can be super strange to talk about, but I do feel like there are little pieces of her living in these songs, which is very comforting to me.”
