The physical distance from Portland, Oregon to New Orleans, Louisiana is 2,538 miles, but the psychic distance is far longer. That distance explains the story of Kassi Valazza’s new album, From Newman Street. Isolating from the outside world due to a painful breakup after five years, she found it hard to be social. Alone in her basement apartment, fearing the outside world, it was time for a change. She planned on moving to Nashville, but during three months between tours in New Orleans, the Crescent City worked its magic.
“As someone with anxiety, I always want to know what’s going to happen,” she says. “But knowing can be limiting. Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, that’s growth.” Such growth allowed her to look at herself in a completely different light. Discovering who she was amongst the bouncy acoustic guitar, bass, and percussion of ‘Your Heart’s a Tin Box’ wasn’t always what she wanted to see. “I moved down to New Orleans / Thinking love would reappear/ But people tell you everything/ but what you wanna hear/ You relied on fixated company/ Now you’re drowning in your ego’s gluttony.
With half the songs written before the move and the other half after, an interesting dynamic occurs. You begin to see how the change of scenery also begins to mirror a change in how Valazza sees the world. ‘Roll On’ is filled with the sorrow of pedal steel turning to a sound of hope amidst the bass and acoustic tones as she sings, “I’ll try moving on/ Won’t look at my phone.” But will she, or won’t she?
The woman we meet on ‘Weight of the Wheel’ is clearly coming undone at the seams, and the music does little to cover up the exposed cracks that are appearing. The drums sound a slow sad refrain, while the steel guitar seems to echo the sadness of the situation. “I’m stressed out/ I’m far away/ there’s dizzy dancing in my head.” While she may not be at the end of her rope, she is definitely looking for a better path forward.
Tracking who she is, along with who she’s becoming, Kassi Valazza reveals with From Newman Street in Portland, to a woman being reborn in New Orleans, she is becoming more aware of who she is and what she wants to be moving forward. Which is really all we can expect from any of us.