Song Premiere: Kris Delmhorst, “Blood Test”

The Artist: Boston-based singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst
The Song: “Blood Test,” the title track to her new album, out May 13.
Fun Fact: In addition to her own releases, Delmhorst has sung or played on over 50 albums, including ones by Peter Wolf, Chris Smither and Mary Gauthier.
Songwriter Says: “‘Blood Test’ is a song about how difficult it can be, living in a world that never shuts up, to slow down and tune in and establish what’s actually happening and what actually matters. The verses are about boredom and down time, the way I remember it as a kid, when there was literally nothing going on and you had to search your imagination and make something out of nothing. Or maybe just be with nothing for a while. There’s a lot less nothing than there used to be, always something you can click on to distract yourself from whatever emptiness or confusion or darkness you’re feeling. I worry about the effect of that on me, as an artist and as a person, and about the effect on us, as a society.

So this song throws down a challenge for the listener and for the rest of the album it leads off: let’s talk about actual stuff. Let’s talk about what life feels like when there’s nowhere to hide from it. Let’s talk about you, and me, and where we’ve been, and what it felt like, and where we’re trying to go, and how we’re trying to love each other, and how it’s difficult and messy and scary and exhilarating and joyful and boring and uncomfortable and real.”