Before playing the Bunk Bar in Portland, OR, Jessi & Nikki Darlin of Those Darlins talked to QRO. In the conversation, these Darlins talked about their new album, Blur The Line, gender roles & normalcy in the South (including nudity), facing up to fear, and more…
QRO: Is there a common theme running through Blur The Line?
Jessi Darlin: There’s several opposing forces that run through the album. Sanity and insanity is one, good and evil, male and female…
Nikki Darlin: Mother Earth, or nature and technology.
JD: Nothing is just one side or the other. It’s about balance – or the search for balance.
QRO: Searching for balance in our lives is really important. It also feels like this album really gets honest.
JD: Yeah, that was the intention. I mean, it’s honest in that the songs are all really personal and about us; but it’s not the whole picture either. It’s a small scrape of the surface of who we are. It’s not honest like when people say if you don’t tell the whole truth, you’re not telling the truth; because there’s still a lot more to know and a lot more that’s left out too. But I would say that everything that’s included – for the most part – is as straightforward as we could get it.
QRO: Wow, that’s brave. Was it also your intention to push gender boundaries?
JD: The intention was really just to share our experiences. But then our experiences involved pushing the gender boundaries.
It’s not like we sit down and say we want to write a feminist song – or we want to be feminists. We’re women; we’re writing songs about our lives and it just happens to be that we’re women – so it’s going to be about that.
QRO: Are perceptions different in the South about gender roles and normalcy?
JD: It can be a really stifling atmosphere. You really stick out if you’re an openly creative person in the south. It’s so different and most people in the rest of the country can’t really understand. But I also think, in a way, it’s stimulating. There’s something to rebel against.
ND: Absolutely. It’s challenging.
JD: Yeah, it’s challenging. It’s not just a free open…
ND: It makes it more interesting too.
JD: Yeah, it’s easy to push people’s buttons; so, you’ve got more to play with.
ND: Not that we’re necessarily trying to push people’s buttons – but when it happens it’s kinda fun.
JD: It is important to push against social boundaries.
QRO: Yeah, but it’s not an easy thing to do. You posed nude on your album. We’re you trying to push people’s buttons by hanging your album art in downtown Nashville?
JD: No, it was more of a representation of the album and the work on the album. It was meant to represent the personal, vulnerable aspects of the album and about finding strength in one’s vulnerability.
ND: Being nude is very empowering and also terrifying to some people. I guess everyone…
QRO: Yes. It is terrifying to most of us. Speaking of terrifying, are any of the songs on Blur the Line specifically about the balance between sanity and insanity?
JD: Well, “Blur the Line”. That song is about the good and evil sides of myself and the male and female sides of myself, but also a large part questions, ‘What’s the difference between being creative and crazy?’ You know? ‘Cause it kinda feels like the same thing. And maybe it is, I don’t know…
QRO: Yeah, I experienced having my creativity considered madness in the South. It wasn’t fun. You start “Ain’t Afraid” off with the line, “There’s a tumor growing on my body…” Is “Ain’t Afraid” autobiographical?
JD: Mostly autobiographical. Some parts are kind of tweaked and creative license, but that song [“Ain’t Afraid”] was me being totally neurotic and freaking out about a bunch of stuff and thinking about all the shit that was messing me up. And then thinking about the whole world and what’s bringing everybody down: Fear.
There’s so many people who are in way worse situations than me. I felt that if I wrote a song about the things that I was most worried about and most afraid of and just put it out there to everyone, and just said I’m not afraid of it. Then it might help other people in their own situations say that they weren’t either. Even if it’s just for three minutes while they listen to the song. That was kind of the idea.
ND: It’s a good message. I think it’s a good thing for everyone to listen to right now. The world’s scary. It’s good to remind yourself that there’s real things to be afraid of instead of such trivial, daily whatever – everyone’s kind of neuroses.
JD: Anything could happen to anybody, but the only way to really get through anything is to conquer that fear, you know?
ND: Yeah. Live through it, face it [fear].
QRO: Thank you for sharing so openly about your new album. Blur the Line really gets the pulse jumping and the heart contemplating. That push and pull between opposites or the Yin and Yang of life really shines through.
Video interview:
