Kate Nash Grapples With Life in Quarantine on New Song ‘Misery’
Singer-songwriter Kate Nash has released a new song, “Misery,” her first new music in nearly two years.
The track is driven by a mix of swift strings and delicate synths undergirded by propulsive percussion and thick bass hits. “I will never leave you behind/Even if the bridge was falling/Misery, it’s out to get you,” Nash sings as the back-up vocals echo behind her, “Keep, keep, keep, keep trying.”
In a statement, Nash said the song was inspired partly by life during quarantine, saying, “I definitely went through depression. For the most part of the year, I just didn’t have the energy and I was kind of lethargic and very lackluster. Rather than fighting that, I leaned into it. It’s about the trauma: the trauma of everything changing.”
Along with releasing “Misery,” Nash has announced a special run of DIY shows dubbed the Safely Out of the Bedroom tour. She plans to perform a handful of one-off acoustic gigs in outdoor spaces, which she will also livestream for fans. The first concert will take place May 21st at Sequoia National Forest in California, while the next gig is set to take place at the Grand Canyon (a date for that show has not been announced). Tickets and additional information are available on Nash’s website.
“I feel like there was a live streaming diarrhea that was happening at the beginning of quarantine where everyone was producing content like crazy from their living rooms,” Nash said of the reasoning behind the tour. “My living room is a home, it’s not a set. There’s only so much I can do to make it look good. There’s something charming about it, for sure, but as a performer, I was thinking, ‘What can I do that would make this more interesting for my audience?’ We’ve been in people’s intimate spaces, and I’m gonna go safely out of there.”
Nash’s most recent album, Yesterday Was Forever, was released in 2018. She’s reportedly also filming a documentary about learning to adapt and survive during the pandemic; it will follow the 2018 film, Underestimate the Girl, which examined Nash’s experiences within the male-dominated music industry. Nash also recently launched the Safety Chain, an educational platform that aims to tackle sexual assault in the music industry.
