Mali Velasquez Premieres 'Shove' Single

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).

Premiering today at Brooklyn Vegan, her latest single “Shove” sees Velasquez and producer Josef Kuhn (Samia, Annie DiRusso, Hannah Cole) seamlessly blend the realms of indie folk and grunge, creating a perfect balance between gentle vulnerability and raw intensity. Of the track, she offers:

"Shove is about a particular relationship I was in at the time, but also about trying really hard for the wrong reasons. I can drain a lot out of people and moments and sometimes I look back and realize how much I take for granted, and I wrote this song in an attempt to explain the feeling of seeing myself doing the wrong things in the perfect moment."  

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.” 

When Velasquez traded her Texas panhandle home for the verdant foothills of Tennessee, she did so with a newfound perspective that mirrored her environment, culminating in the lushly raw edge of her folk-rooted indie rock. She also realized a reborn appreciation for nature and nurtured a more disciplined love for oil painting, which resulted in her original artwork for all three singles and the album itself.

Wistfully openhearted and incisive, she tips the fulcrum between reflection and remedy with melody-forward unction and lyrical tenderness. The music and art of I’m Green serve as a perennial introspection into the wild animal of young adulthood and the renewing realization that the person we’re most often seeking permission from, crucially, is ourselves.