In 'A Story In The Times,' Robin Bacior Digs Her Own Roots

Robin Bacior sings with calm authority, never failing to surround herself with quietly radiant instrumentation. On past recordings, the Portland singer-songwriter set her soothing, supple voice against spare sounds that matched its tone, most notably piano and cello. But on Light It Moved Me, out August 31, she fans out a bit, infusing her new songs with loops and bits of jazz and ornate '70s pop.

The new album's second single, "A Story in the Times," reflects on feelings of rootlessness, alienation and the ways people can form an identity without a single place to shape and define them.

"The song itself is about a piece I read in The New York Times over breakfast on a Sunday back in 2015, about younger generations tending to be less rooted," Bacior writes via email. "It stuck with me, and later that day I sat down with my loop pedal and distilled it through my own experiences jumping back and forth across the country. Growing without roots planted can give you an abstract shape; it's a kind of freedom that's both liberating and capricious. The dancers in the music video embody those two constantly swirling thoughts."

Light It Moved Me comes out August 31 via Spirit House.

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