Having just completed a dream tour as special guest to Stevie Nicks last month, acclaimed Scottish singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Nina Nesbitt returns with one of her most personal tracks yet, Anger, taken from her forthcoming album, Mountain Music, out on 27th September.
With her biting lyrics and impassioned vocals, Nesbitt unveils a raw, emotional journey while challenging the notion that anger must be contained. She warns that the facade of politeness will one day crumble, revealing the damage done by those who have polluted her with their negativity. This song is her way of unraveling the blush pink bows of her feminine rage, shedding the constraints of being soft and polite. Anger is a declaration and reclamation of her power.
Nina Nesbitt @ The O2
Speaking about the track, the 30-year-old reveals: “As someone who is introverted and quiet I’ve always struggled to know how to express my anger. I think a lot of the time we associate male anger with destruction and violence but female anger to me, feels like a force of nature. I think a lot of us use our rage as fuel to become better. We turn our pain into beauty. We turn the chaos into creation. Songwriting is my vessel for expressing that. Writing this song was my therapy after feeling totally betrayed and let down by someone close to me. For me, anger feels like love that has nowhere to exist anymore. It’s something that I’m learning to let out in order to let go.”
The track is paired with a visually stunning official music video, directed by longtime and frequent collaborator, Wolf James. Shot on location in the picturesque area of Fairhead in Northern Ireland, with its’ vast overgrown fields of green and severe cliffsides with waves crashing beneath, the landscape lends itself perfectly to the feelings of rage conveyed through the lyrics and imbued by music.
Watch the official music video for Anger below:
Speaking about the inspiration behind the music video, director Wolf James says: “Anger is a healthy part of our expression. But – Anger is often seen as a negative emotion – especially in women. Women are told anger is ‘unattractive,’ ‘silly’ and ‘not ladylike’ – and yet the suppression of anger often leads to depression. Anger can also be the very thing that will save us, protect us, show us our boundaries and help us find our voice and drive us forward to positive change for ourselves and others. In this video – we wanted to convey how anger can be a creative force – not a destructive one. How it should be celebrated as a force of nature, a release, a wildness that we need to rediscover in ourselves. Nina stood on the edge of the cliffs overlooking Scotland and screamed whilst we all screamed back. She destroyed the past and let go and drove a quad with a dog and scared the shit out of us. As she should. Easily this is her most raw and best performance yet – she just keeps growing stronger and better (if possible) and it is so incredible to see.”
Anger follows previous releases, Pages, On The Run, Mansion, and most recently, I’m Coming Home, a rousing Springsteen-inspired, journey back to the places and people she loves. Mountain Music is to be released on the 27th September, via her own record label – Apple Tree Records.
Having risen to fame at a young age with her disarming, candid pop – championed by stars including Taylor Swift – with her new album, the Scottish musician is now found in an entirely new realm. Mountain Music is inspired in part by the two years she spent touring the States in support of her second studio album: the critically acclaimed Top 40, The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change, which has now accrued over a billion streams.
Nina Nesbitt @ The O2
The songs on Mountain Music are permeated with gorgeous nods to US folk and Americana. Produced by Peter Miles and Nesbitt, and mixed and mastered by Miles at his studio MiddleFarm in South Devon, in the UK. It will be released via her own label, Apple Tree Records, which Nina launched earlier this year with her longtime manager, Vicky Dowdall. The name, a playful nod to her 2012 debut EP, The Apple Tree, this marks the start of an exciting new era for Nina Nesbitt, both personally and creatively.
Talking about her new body of work, Nesbitt says: “I’m beyond excited to be releasing my new album, Mountain Music, on 27th September. To me, it feels like the most authentic and honest piece of work I’ve created so far. I was inspired by a lot of the American folk music I grew up listening to, and revisiting it made me fall back in love with writing music again. I knew I wanted to take inspiration but to also write my own story. That being, someone with a female perspective who grew up in a Scottish village and spent her turbulent twenties in London. This album celebrates that small town girl, puts an arm around the big city twenty-something and looks back at the view with me now from the calm and the quiet. It’ll be the first release on my own record label, Apple Tree Records, which I’m delighted about. It feels like the perfect time to take full control of my career
and put my stake in the ground as the artist I’ve always dreamed of being. Mountain Music held my hand through some of my hardest moments and I hope it can hold yours too.”
Following the tour as special guest to Stevie Nicks last month, which included a show in London’s BST Hyde Park, as well as a sold out headline show at Camden Assembly, Nina recently announced details of a UK headline tour, set to kick off this October.
Upcoming UK tour dates:
OCTOBER
16th – London, Scala
17th – Manchester, Academy 3
18th – Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket
Photography of Nina Nesbitt by Kalpesh Patel
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