Nalani Proctor

A songwriter wading through the plains, Nalani Proctor breaths in the winds of the Midwest, and exhales the songs of her multicultural lineage. Hapa Haole by birth, Nalani never quite fit in with the crowd in Iowa, nor Hawaii. Finding solace in music, she writes out the pains of growing up, over and over again. "We never "grow up", we just keep learning, unlearning, or relearning from the same mistakes. If we never learn, we have to keep struggling through those pains until we do." 

Her newest album "Nothing" is a testament to that labor of love, suffering, indifference, and patience. Over the past 5 years, she wrote songs to celebrate poignant milestones and defuse devastating heartbreaks, then began to record, making it a point to do it herself. "At one point, about two years ago, I was like "I can just do it, right? I can just get some equipment, and make this thing in my basement, or office, or bedroom. I don't need to rely on people, well, not until I have to (for the instruments I can't play)." 

The quirk and breadth of the home recording shows, but what's not so surprising is her ability to evoke the emotions of the lyrics by her voice, often layering her own to create the upbeat surf rock sounds in "Writer's Block" and "Cogwork", or the unbearably sad and languid characters against sparse instrumentation in "The Fool" and "Lonely". One of her favorite songs on the record, "Cemetery Stones", ends the album with harsh acoustic guitar, interspersed with tonal pops of auxiliary percussion at just the right moments to bring the characters to life. "This last one is a true coming of age tale, in three verses," says Proctor. "The album, as a whole, grows with you, as you listen to it. You travel through a depressive episode, into mania, into being okay. Pretty much puberty, right? It's like my own John Hughs film, except no one gets the girl."

"Nothing" is set to release June 22, 2018.