Mali Velasquez Signs with Ground Control Touring; Joins A. Savage On Tour

Nashville-based artist Mali Velasquez has signed with Ground Control Touring, joining Timmy Hefner's roster of Japanese Breakfast, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee, Parquet Courts, Fenne Lily, and Katy Kirby.

She announced today that she will tour with A. Savage (of Parquet Courts) for ten shows next Spring beginning in Texas and continuing west throughout California and the Pacific Northwest. The news follows the release of Velasquez's acclaimed debut album I’m Green via Acrophase Records last week.

She will celebrate with a hometown album release show at The East Room in Nashville this Wednesday, October 18.

Mali Velasquez Tour Dates

October 18 — Nashville, TN — The East Room
November 20 — Nashville, TN — Mirror Mirror^
April 4 — Denton, TX — Rubber Gloves*
April 5 — Austin, TX — Far Out Lounge*
April 7 — Santa Fe, NM — Meow Wolf*
April 9 — Tucson, AZ — Club Congress*
April 10 — Pioneertown, CA — Pappy and Harriet's*
April 11 — Santa Ana, CA — Constellation Room*
April 12 — Los Angeles, CA — Teragram Ballroom*
April 13 — San Francisco, CA — Rickshaw Stop*
April 15 — Portland, OR — Mississippi Studios*
April 16 — Seattle, WA — Tractor Tavern*
^with Rose Hotel
*with A. Savage

Produced with Josef Kuhn (Samia, Annie DiRusso, Hannah Cole), I'm Green seamlessly blends elements of grunge and indie pop into Velasquez’s lush folk songs, creating a perfect balance between gentle vulnerability and raw intensity. “I know you’re delicate / But so am I,” she sings on “Medicine,” her voice a subtext of her disposition, warbled yet controlled, uncertain but sharpening over a fuzz of guitars that crash into epiphanic clarity.

Lead single “Tore” displays similar themes of biting candor as Velasquez confronts a tendency towards shame and self-sabotage over distorted brass and a steady, pastoral groove. “Being comfortable in my skin is something that feels out of reach a lot of the time,” she says. “What all of these songs are about is my relationship with myself, but also the relationship of 'self' as a reflection of my relationships to other people.”

I’m Green sees these familiar feelings of discomfort as an opportunity for release while confronting 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 as computerized blips and glimmers cut through the sparse guitarwork like bytes of fleeting recollection.

“Getting these songs out has been really healing for me,” she explains. “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 raw edge of her folk-rooted indie rock. Wistfully openhearted and incisive, she tips the fulcrum between reflection and remedy with melody-forward unction and lyrical tenderness. I’m Green is 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. 

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