Local singer/songwriter Robert Morton stopped by Live & Local last week, ahead of the release of his new album “Self-Loathing Never Got Me Anywhere.”

“It’s (felt like) a long time since I produced and released an album,” Morton says, though his last album (“I Would Fall Apart Without You”) is only three years old. “After 2023, I needed to take a step back (and) focus on new material I had written…and there was also a lot of exciting but also life-altering events that happened over the past few years. So I needed time to grapple with that.”

The songs on “Self-Loathing” date from 2020 to the present day – a period during which Morton grew closer with his parents and got married, but also dealt with personal struggles, from the death of his grandfather (during his honeymoon) to a cancer diagnosis for a close friend (the subject of his latest single, the stellar “Escape From This Fire”).

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It’s those strong but mixed emotions that Morton says he tried to tap into for the tracks on “Self-Loathing” – inspired musically by fellow introspective songwriters like Hozier and Noah Kahan, to a greater degree than in his previous output. And he says the writing process helped him tap into (and channel and deal with) his more negative side.

“A lot of people in my life (think) ‘Rob is this positive, optimistic, uplifting person who can pick others up in a time of need,’ and that’s definitely true – but I almost don’t give myself the space to feel like authentically what’s going on down below,” Morton says. “And you know, on the cover of the album, there’s different lyrics from my songs: ‘I feel like a monster in your dreams.’ ‘I feel like I’m the reason I’m bringing you down.’ So for me it was a more introspective step back (to) reflect: ‘how am I viewing myself?’

“(But) even though this has been a very powerful project for me personally, I (also) want to evolve from it – ‘self-loathing never got me anywhere’ – to something more uplifting and positive.”

The album (Morton’s third) is out on Friday, March 20 – and then the following Friday, March 27, he’ll be celebrating with an album-release show at Local 506, supported by Jack the Songman and Chris Chism. (Chism’s own new EP just dropped last month.)

Click here to buy tickets and get more information about the show.

“I’m very excited for this,” Morton says about the show. “Typically when I play live, it’s just me, my guitar, and my mic and some pedals, and that’s it. (But) this time I met a group of people through playing basketball – and we all started playing music together, and (they) agreed to do a full band setup for Local 506. It’s going to be great.”

Robert Morton stopped by Live & Local to discuss the new album and play three songs: “The End,” “Home,” and “Escape From This Fire.” Listen:

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