Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum tackles fatherhood and other life changes in a new album

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Change can be scary, but for the musician we're about to meet, the big changes in his life became seeds for new songs. Here's NPR's Lindsay Totty.

LINDSAY TOTTY, BYLINE: A few years ago, Jack Tatum moved from Los Angeles to the smaller, quieter city of Richmond in his home state of Virginia. While he says it was the right decision, he had some misgivings.

JACK TATUM: There's a lot of things that I hate about stereotypical suburban culture, but I have this soft spot for strip malls and big-box stores, and, like, there's something about my upbringing that I feel like was quintessentially American.

TOTTY: Tatum explored that inner conflict in a song with his band, Wild Nothing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUBURBAN SOLUTIONS")

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) Wake up to a new life, a yard with a fence, and take a good look in the mirror. We spared no expense.

TATUM: This song was a little bit about making fun of myself and my own fears of moving to a smaller city and choosing this life, of slowing down, settling down.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUBURBAN SOLUTIONS")

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) Take a deep breath. Suburban Solutions has your back. We've come to the end. Put up your feet. Come to the end.

TOTTY: For Jack Tatum, moving to Richmond was just the beginning. He soon took on another challenge, starting a family.

TATUM: Becoming a father, at least for me, there was this immediate thought of, like, oh, I don't want to mess this up. I don't want to do the wrong thing. I don't want to let this person down.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PULLING DOWN THE MOON (BEFORE YOU)")

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) There's still so much I can't control. And I know I'll stumble, truth be told.

TATUM: I did sort of have these blunders about how am I going to tour in the same way now? How am I going to find the time to write or, like - you know, 'cause the thing was, is, like, as soon as he was born, I was like, I want to be a present parent. I want to be, like, the best dad that I can. And so you have to change things about your life.

TOTTY: For Tatum, the challenges of fatherhood brought new challenges to his marriage.

TATUM: Things are changing, and our life doesn't look the way that it used to look. And I think in order to get through that, there's going to have to be adaptation.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEADLIGHTS ON")

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) I only feel like myself at night. Don't always treat you right, but I don't know how to be subtle with all the things I hate about myself.

TATUM: This is a song about recognizing that things are not good, but knowing that you have to leave the door open for reconciliation.

TOTTY: While these trials were new to Jack Tatum, another song grapples with an issue he's dealt with since the beginning of his career.

TATUM: The first couple of years that we toured as a band, I found playing live really difficult. I felt very much under a microscope, and I think it kind of exacerbated a lot of my already-present issues with self-doubt.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE BODYBUILDER")

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) Hot air and artifice. I wish I didn't feel the need to impress you quite so much. Been too long on my knees.

TATUM: And I think for a long time I dealt with it through drinking or drugs or seeking validation in ways that weren't necessary.

TOTTY: But these days, he says, those inner voices of doubt are no longer quite so loud now that he has new priorities on his mind.

TATUM: Musician was sort of all that I defined myself as throughout my whole 20s, and I think now having this new role as a father, music will always be one of the most important things in my life, but I no longer feel that it's all that I am.

TOTTY: The new album from Wild Nothing is called "Hold." It's out Friday.

Lindsay Totty, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)

WILD NOTHING: (Singing) Sometimes I win it all (ph). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.