Folk pop songwriter Tristen performs some new songs from her forthcoming album and chats about poetry and funding her latest album through Kickstarter.

Tristen broke her drought of new music with the December release of her seasonally appropriate single “In Winter Blues.” Right in tune with the holiday spirit, Tristen devoted all proceeds from the baleful, piano-driven tune to benefit the International Rescue Commission. Founded by Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC responds to humanitarian crises and delivers healthcare and support to people fleeing conflict and natural disaster.

While the hauntingly beautiful song doesn’t explicitly mention the Syrian refugee crisis, her Bandcamp page does. Lyrics like “Crazy arms longing to hold you/ To bring you back where you belong” that could signal unrequited love require no large leap of the imagination to also conjure images of Syria's turmoil and other countries embroiled in crisis.

Between touring with singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis and southern rockers The Weeks over the past two years, Tristen found time to pen an 18-poem volume titled "Saturnine" that delves into a “dystopian world where apathy uncovers empathy” and “the heart speaks kindness through the ugliness sometimes.”

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