Beth Ray Writes

Friday 27th September saw the release of Nina Nesbitt’s fourth album “Mountain Music” released into the world. It’s an important album for Nina as it marks her first album as an independent artist having recorded it on her own music label Apple Tree Records. I was instantly attracted to listening to the album because of how well Nesbitt has delivered the concept of the album. The album title, the tracks all having a perfect Autumnal sound, the album being released in Autumn, the merchandise, the vinyls (‘Logs on the Loch’, ‘Mountain View Beach’ and ‘I’ll Be The Moon’ special editions) and finally the Spotify backgrounds featuring Nina in the countryside with black and white hues, all of it has been meticulously curated to create the perfect concept for the album. For me this shows the artist really cares for the release of the album so i’m sold already in wanting to listen to what the artist has produced.

Mountain Music is an album with many personal tracks, Nesbitt has carefully created many songs with each one telling a story. After the album release she wrote on her instagram stories “This album is so special to me and it’s been really hard to release it because of this. It’s so uncomfortably honest and raw and talks about a lot of things I’m actually still processing, so the thought of having it out there made me feel uneasy. But.. even though being vulnerable infront of the world feels unnatural and scary. I’ve learnt it can also be really liberating and validating…”

The album feels like a gentle Autumnal hug to the listeners who can relate to it. The album opens up with the track “Pages” which mentions about the worries of growing older followed by “I’m Coming Home” which mentions the nostalgia of returning to that place we call home that makes us feel better.
The third track “Mansion” is a gorgeous song about the pains of wasting your younger yers on a guy who doesn’t realise how amazing you are, with lyrics such as “He’ll give his world then he’ll take it right back/ You don’t know how pretty you are/ He doesn’t know how pretty you are”. Another track worth noting is “Hard Times” that talks about the difficulties of a relationship when you’re going through a difficult time.

The album is beautiful to listen to with most tracks featuring mainly acoustic guitar, piano accompaniments and even the sounds of birds featuring on some making the whole album feel as though you should be listening to it on a road trip in the mountains. However don’t be misled with the gentle sounds of the album, when you listen to the pain Nesbitt tells on tracks such as Mansion, Painkiller, Anger and Alchemise you realise there is so much depth to the album and she translates that not only in her lyrics but in the musical style of the songs. She adds extra instruments to create more layers, growing crescendos and when a song hits a hard note, such as in the track ‘Anger’, Nesbitt places the following track ‘Alchemist’ as a response to the woman singing, trying to soothe her pain and it’s as though you’re watching a scenario unfold of Nina soothing her own inner angst.

There are so many beautiful songs on the album and I really feel this album deserves to be listened to, try and hear the birds, listen to Nesbitt’s soothing voice turn raspy as she delivers her raw and honest lyrics. It’s a great album and it’s so exciting to see an artist deliver an album i’m sure she’s really proud of as it’s a great listen.

You can buy Nesbitt’s album from her official store here and she is going on tour the next few weeks so make sure to have a look if she’s playing a gig near you.

Let me know if you’ve listened to the album in the comments below and make sure to watch the tracks from Youtube below!

Beth x