single release, life update, etc
I have been absent, in brain and body, and from this newsletter. I don’t have a better way to put it: February beat my ass. It proved to be a month of my eyes widening every time things couldn’t get worse, and then watching them get worse. In any case, it is Friday, March 1st, and more people are subscribed to these letters than I expected. To the new readers — new lovers — thanks for being here. Regulars, first-timers — all lovers — thank you for being here. I try to write these letters weekly, but February, ass beating, etc. Let’s get into it, shall we?
If you’re here from Instagram — and I suppose, also if you’re here from somewhere else — the first single off my new EP Sativa is out today! Hit That (Gets You High) is born and living in the world. What a rush. Amber, who signed me to ex-label, told me early on: “there’s no feeling like releasing music”. She was right. I’m giddy, honestly.
This EP is a bit different from Sublimation: it’s sort of a bridge between Sublimation Shalom and LP2 Shalom. I wrote the songs while I was living in Johannesburg last summer, and brought them to life with production wizard Zach Shectman and his also-wizard brother Asher Shectman. Liam Dillon got it all on video and made the video below. Welcome to the Sativa-verse!
The best way I can explain this to you is that while I was in Johannesburg — so much therapy, grieving, screaming, crying, throwing up, etc — I was in my childhood bedroom in my childhood home. I kept calling it the scene of the crime; my therapist said “that’s a good assessment”. I couldn’t actively smoke oui’d while I was there, so I returned to my freshman-year tendencies and changed my method: enter dab pen. Penjamins are great – they do the trick and leave next to no trace.
Regardless of what you may be thinking at this point, this is not an EP about oui’d. It is, however, a collection of songs I made when I was just as shattered of a person as I ever have been. Penjamin and mood stabilizers holding me down, and really not much else. Hit That (Gets You High) is indeed about my green lifeline, but the other two songs, To VA With Haste and Fed, definitely provide some insight as to why I needed that sativa. I’m excited to share the full EP with you on Friday, March 22, 2024!
What else? I started February in New York city playing a rythym only (bass-bass-drums) set at Parkside Lounge. It was good to be there. I went dancing at Wiggle Room after the show and was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to catch the bubbles moment.
I played in Philadelphia on 2/22 at PhilaMOCA, invited by my dear friends in Gartenhead. It was my first time back ~in Philly since my album release show last year. It’s crazy how much has changed since then. Jesse – an artist, a darling, a real love — told me that she thinks my life is as wild as it is because I’m a storyteller, and as such, a story collector. It was nice to hear a take other than “Have you considered that you may be cursed?” after the year that was 2023. Woof. Anyway, Jesse has an exhibit up at Hive Cafe – if you’re in Philly, go see it.
Something well and truly exciting is that I am going on tour next week! We’re hitting the road as a duo on the way down to SXSW with Cinema Hearts. At SXSW, Cinema Hearts joins said duo to form Shalom Full Band – I can’t wait. We’re playing a few showcases AND a few new (LP2) songs. Then, for the first Shalom Full Band show in the DC area, we are playing with Chicago rockers Neptune’s Core & sweet songstress Sabrina Movitz at Quarry House Tavern on March 30. All tickets are available at okayshalom.com/shows. Please! Say hey!
Much else went down in February, for sure. I broke up with my now-ex who I moved to Virginia to be with. Work got intense and I had to go to Atlanta for a convening. I cried the whole time. I’ve thankfully learned to believe who people show themselves to be instead of who they say they are, so the decision itself wasn’t hard. The aftermath is that he moved out, and I am quite isolated at the moment. I keep having laugh-cry moments where I stand in awe of the entire situation and say, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” And yet it is. More stories to collect, more stories to tell.
Angie McMahon’s brilliant album, Light, Dark, Light Again has been rescuing me a lot recently. And she’s right:
I know now at the end of the ending
That just making it through is the lesson
I’ve always been a good student. See you somewhere on the road?
love always,
shalom xo
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