Natalie Schlabs

Nashville-based Texas-bred singer/songwriter Natalie Schlabs, who frequently draws comparisons to artists like Norah Jones and Jill Andrews, writes songs that explore the complicated emotions and perspective-shifting moments that make up family relationships. Her music often blends sublime vocal harmonies with lyrics about the secret desires and difficulties of living life among loved ones.
Breaking a bit from her country roots, Schlabs’ new album Don’t Look Too Close (set for release October 16, 2020)steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy,delicate harmonies. Co-produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke, the album swells and ebbs with elegant,absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender, each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocalsfront-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies. Largely written while pregnant with her first child, the album naturally focuses on tensions between past and present. “I wast hinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values. There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew. What doI value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I wantto spare them from?
The tracks on Don’t Look Too Close traverse the spectrum of feelings that tend to coincide with love, from bitter-sweet consideration to the haunting gentleness of “Ophelia,” written for a friend who lost her daughter, while thealbum's title track addresses the everyday aches and pains people tend to hide from loved ones. As a whole, Don'tLook Too Close represents a place, a time, and a pocket of feelings that are as distinctly human as they are beautiful. “Growing up surrounded by family in the flatlands, there’s not a whole lot going on outside of the people. The Climate is extreme, and isolation binds you to the people around you. Everyone’s in each other’s business, and you learn that love can go in many directions. Sometimes it’s about solidarity and sacrifice, sometimes it’s obsessive or painful. This record is about navigating those feelings within our closest relationships.