S7E351 - John Cale 'Paris 1919' with Stephen Bluhm

Out of the Nowhere. Into the Here. is the sublime second album by singer, songwriter, and performer Stephen Bluhm. It’s a classic story: Young, creative person connects with music and through it sees a life beyond the slow, remote town they grew up in. But few such enlightened fugitives will end up making music that approaches the exquisite and beautifully moving chamber pop of Out of the Nowhere. Into the Here. Described by Bluhm, who was raised in rural Pennsylvania, as “ten intimate but playful songs capturing the visceral feelings of autumn and winter, love and passion, and the suspicion (I’m not alone with) that there is something going on beyond our understanding.” While Bluhm has been “making songs ever since I can remember,” in his teenage years it was his older siblings’ Lou Reed and David Bowie records that ignited his adolescent musical obsession. While attending Temple University, he took the plunge into live music via campus open-mic nights and from there burst upon the bustling Philadelphia scene, prompting the Philadelphia City Paper to dub him “an old soul, writing Tin Pan Alley-ish fare and singing croon-y folk jazz in a voice that’d make Morrisey swoon.” Relocating to New York’s Hudson Valley, he further honed his expressive performing style: Belying the serious slants of some of his songs, Bluhm’s shows often find him dancing madly among delighted audience members.