For Cameron Blake, time and tenderness heal deeply buried wounds on Mercy for the Gentle Kind.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan chamber-pop vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist embarks on a cathartic journey to explore forgiveness and find renewal on his latest EP.
“That’s when the process began, and I thought, ‘OK, what are these three songs, ‘Blue Note,’ ‘Mercy for the Gentle Kind’ and ‘Cricket’s Waltz,’ about?’ I had to go back and piece it all together, but I was doing that simultaneously while preparing for my Return to the Violin recital,” said Blake, who’s also a classically trained violinist.
“Then I realized it was a very subconscious thing that I was making this record about the healing process and how the only way to heal something is not to harden up, but to show tenderness.”
Blake thoughtfully examines that concept throughout Mercy for the Gentle Kind’s six poignant tracks, which feature poetic lyrics and cinematic instrumentation mixed with indie-folk, chamber-pop and classical music sensibilities.
“And then I found the John Berger audio, which was in an interview with him talking about how we can judge systems and we can judge actions, but we can’t judge the human soul,” he said.
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what a profoundly beautiful and incredibly difficult idea,’ but it sort of struck me because that’s exactly what I did with that past teacher of mine and that’s what healed me. It simply brought together the whole project.”
To learn more about Blake’s journey, I chatted with him about his background, a past traumatic experience that impacted his ability to play the violin, his “debut” album and latest EP, the Music in the Heights concert series and his upcoming plans.
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