I Don't Know What I'm Doing

Hello Dear Reader

Against my better nature, I am writing to you in a timely fashion in what is my third instalment in a month. It’s a strange feeling. I wonder how long it is before I am appearing at a convention in a Holiday Inn somewhere off the A45, offering tips on how to maximise social media engagement to life coaches who want to know how to grow their followers so that millions more might see their Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win posts.

The trick to creative work, you see, is that it should never feel like work when it’s being made, or when it’s being experienced. (I like how authoritative that sounds - perhaps I should write it in Helvetica Bold and stick it on a pastel background.) All art should feel like it was born out of the bumhole of Boticelli’s Venus or Debbie McGee’s décolletage. It should feel like it was brought to you by sprites, flying through the air on gossamer wings and in leotards so tight they would make even Bruno Tonioli blush. Like, one minute I was just walking along, then suddenly came over all a-quiver and had to retire to the Neo Georgian folly I just happen to have in my garden and lo! here’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter or We Should Break Up.

Yeah. I hate to break it to you, but I probably wrote them in Primark joggers and my favourite H&M T-shirt, the one with the horses on and the closest I’ll ever get to owning a pony.

It is a slog most of the time, at least for me. A life of fleeting, unbidden moments of inspiration bookended by days of frustration and battling with myself. Frankly I’m astonished that I’m still doing this after twenty years. Every time I finish an album, I wonder if it will be my last; if I will write another song again or go to the piano one day and not have a clue what to do with it. Chuck in a worldwide pandemic and my already erratic work rate was bound to go a bit wonky.

But I am so thrilled to tell you that my seventh album is finished and will be released worldwide on June 17th 2022. I debated its title on many occasions, worrying that it might seem glib or throwaway when the song in question is anything but. But to call this album anything else would be disingenuous - the last two years have felt like a collective muddle, have they not? And then something miraculous happened: one day I just thought, sod it. This is who I am. She’s okay. I can live with her. We’ll just crack on and make the best of it.

So, I Don’t Know What I’m Doing is on its way, and will be available in myriad formats including of course, vinyl. A note though about vinyl: production worldwide has been severely impacted by various issues so lead times are bananas. As such, we are expecting the vinyl versions of the album to arrive sometime around December 2022. Every other format we will be dispatching for the release date.

Those of you who follow this link to my store will notice that there has never before been such a beautifully conceived Nerina Pallot retail experience. This is because I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. It was the brainchild of Andy Chatterley and our new addition to Nerina HQ, the amazingly gifted Darragh Hughes, who put it all together.

There are all sorts of fun things I’m going to share with you in coming weeks. But to begin with, here is ‘Cold Places’, a song I was writing for me but when it was finally finished, realised was for all of you too.

Finally, I’m heading back out on tour in the UK this autumn. Tickets go on sale this Monday April 11th and there will be more info to follow accordingly.

Thank you for always rooting for me.

With love

Nerina x