Isolation is a feeling of which Nelson Kempf is well acquainted; no doubt the struggle of city-dwellers in the lockdown era must have seemed rather trivial. The singer-songwriter was born in Alaska, a place where he lived all his life before upping sticks to Nashville to start a family; the tenure was briefer than intended however, with the tundra ultimately calling him home where he began work as a welder.
Such a habitat feels against the presumed grain of youth, but his choice has led to an earnest and introspective atmosphere in his music that is palpably at odds with the more exhibitionist endeavours of other artists of a comparative age. Following in the wake of recent releases “Sweetness & Strife” and “Hourglass”, Kempf’s new single “Family Dollar” is as emotive as it is expansive, though never compromises on his singular vision.
