When moving to a new place there is an adrenaline rush of leaving everything behind and setting up a whole new life on your own but the scary overwhelming feeling of the unknown creeps in.
Florida born, Nashville based singer-song writer Max Helgemo’s new single “Uncovered” takes you on that journey of exploring a new home and announcing his arrival to Nashville. With his dreamy harmonies and meditative lyrics, he expresses the empowerment and strength he gained when starting over in a new place. There is clear setting and story to this song that puts you at ease. It’s like a Sunday night in the middle of the summer.
Cut It Out had the chance to sit down and discuss his inspiration for his new single, how he is adjusting to living in a new city and what life is like in Nashville.
What was the inspiration for this song?
Uncover was the first song that I wrote when I got to Nashville and trying to get comfortable with being in a new place because I was definitely not comfortable being here at first. First time out Florida and yeah it was a really therapeutic. I kept dreamy about being a more extroverted person. I am a more introverted person and this is a place (Nashville) that if your a extroverted person things can happened pretty quickly. It was a daydream song, where I was like “fuck it. What if I just streaked down the street naked to announce my arrival.
Moving to new place takes a really long to find your footing. What made you want to move to Nashville and how long have you been living there?
I have been here since the end of last year. I wanted to try and take that next step and be apart of a bigger music community with access to more resources. I recognized the limitations of being in smaller town. I feel like being in a tight music because it’s good for awhile because you can grow more easily. There is such a culture of everything music here.
What I have heard about Nashville is there so much inspiration to write music.
Right, I was thinking about the Nashville singer-songwriter scene and that has been one of the ways I have engaged with the most is the song writer process. That is the thing I have probably done the most at this point has been sitting and working on songs. I thought it would be a good place to go because of the way people talk about song writing here. You here a lot of people talk about the song and the melody and the craftsmanship of writing.
What got you interested in music in the first place?
I kinda got into it in high school, my family had some guitars laying around so I started picking around on those. I started to learn guitar in order to sing because it felt good and therapeutic. I went to college and kept doing music and got more into songwriting. After I graduated, I ended up working at a hospital as a musician. I played some of the most imitate shows I ever played that. Overall, I think I got into music because it was a way for me to get out of my own head and be apart of the world.
Helgemo’s is definitely an artist to follow. Check out his new single “Uncovered” on streaming on Spotify today and follow him @maxhelgemo.
Max Helgemo
