EXCLUSIVE GHG PREMIERE: SARAH BETHE NELSON ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM "WEIRD GLOW" + RELEASES ANTICIPATED NEW SINGLE "PARALYZED WALTZ" LISTEN HERE
Gold Hand Girls is all about the women, all the time.
SARAH BETHE NELSON
first caught our attention with her powerful guitar riffs on Evolution ★ Now, GHG is here to ask Sarah a couple of questions about her anticipated album “Weird Glow” + single “Paralyzed Waltz”
Photo by Jennifer Lewis
YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING A GOLD HAND GIRLS EXCLUSIVE ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT + SINGLE PREMIERE
What is Weird Glow about?
How does Paralyzed Waltz reflect the album’s overall vibe?
I think overall the record is about setting things down and moving forward. It feels more expansive to me thematically than the last couple of my records did, the focus is broader. I think creatively I’m always reaching for something and that can be perceived as melancholy at times, but Weird Glow is about the fog lifting and the shimmer that comes right before clarity. I intended for it to be a summer record and I’m really glad that it worked out for it to be coming out in June. I hope the warmth and light in it will shine through.
Paralyzed Waltz is a part of the vibe in that it deals with how other people perceive us and and how we perceive ourselves, both of which are almost always totally misguided and wrong, and just being okay with that. The marimbas make it playful and I hope light-hearted, it’s also partially about having a crush on a guy with a broken tooth. It’s a song about how we often feel like we’re going nowhere but maybe we’re dancing toward something we just can’t see yet.
What inspired you to write “Paralyzed Waltz” ? Did you write it alongside any other song-writers, and what does your song writing process look like?
I think I was just messing around when I wrote it, as often happens. I end up keeping the things I write in between writing other things. I like what happens in the peripheral… that maybe doesn’t make sense… I mean I tend to like the creative things that emerge when I’m not looking directly at something, the thoughts that happen when I’m looking out the window or doing dishes or walking with my dog.
Writing is definitely a solitary thing for me. I work through things best by myself. After the songs are written I bring them to my bandmate and longtime friend Rusty Miller, we sit in my living room or his or the practice space and arrange them for how they will be on the record and live.
Who are you inspired by?
Too many to name… I’m listening to Patti Smith’s record Easter as I write this. She’s an enormous hero of mine. I’m inspired by sincerity and kindness and humor and willingness to be vulnerable, sharing art is terrifying and exhausting a lot of the time and I admire anyone who does it.
What does it mean to you to be a female in the music industry?
Everything. There are so many wonderful, inspiring women and men in music and I’m grateful everyday to be holding up my small piece of the sky with all of them.
