Kasey Anderson takes audience to ‘Nowhere Nights’

That is certainly what Kasey Anderson, an indie singer-songwriter found when he left a cozy if unfulfilling life in Bellingham, Wash., to return to his hometown of Portland, Ore. “It started out as writing exercises,” Anderson said of the songs on his latest release “Nowhere Nights.”

“Then there came a time when I realized this is not just writing exercises; these are songs that have messages to say out loud,” he said.

What’s compelling about this album is that unlike his other songs that rely on character sketches — which led Paste magazine to proclaim Anderson is “a literate workingman’s poet,” — these songs are more reflective of the personal turmoil he experienced when he left Bellingham and that somewhat self-destructive lifestyle.

Once he moved, Anderson immersed himself in Portland and, confident as he could be in his decision, went to work writing.

There is a kind of a beauty where it rains 250 days a year,” Anderson said of the area’s constantly soggy weather. “It was a good excuse to stay in so then I wrote the songs … and arranged them.”

The concern, he said, was that the intensely personal music with specific references to times and places would be universal enough for others to relate to them. After all, this type of writing was new to someone who had always written observations and fiction.

After the album was released to critical acclaim, Anderson was comforted to see despite the specific nature of the songs, the messages in them were common enough to allow others to relate to them. In fact, he received praise for showing how to endure painful ends to relationships and survive.

It was a lesson Anderson learned again too when he recorded the somewhat somber “Bellingham Blues,” then took a year to regroup before finishing the album.

But don’t think the music is all about Anderson’s soul-searching quest. As he healed, he took a close look around and again began writing about others.

“I Was a Photograph” is about Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, whose photo became an icon image of the Iraq war. The song follows Miller from the war to his discharge from the Marines and return home.

“In the beginning it was sort of cathartic” Anderson said of the writing. “But part of the project was “I Was A Photograph” which was emblematic of the war. I went through a struggle about whether I should put it on the album … [When] James hear it he responded immediately and was very positive. It was one of those moments where I knew why I do what I do.”