For those yet to hear, “I gotta take ‘em with me, everywhere I go - through everything I do,” Ian Fisher sings on “Take You With Me,” the newest single of his just-released, self-released new album, Go Gentle (February 7th, 2025).

The Missouri-born songwriter, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Germany, is keenly addressing something at once highly personal and yet, to a number, universal: death and grief.

Indeed, Go Gentle was shaped by Fisher’s experiences following the death of his mother in 2023 after a 26-year fight with cancer. It is a cathartic and, at times, heart-wrenching album, both for artist and audience, and makes the case that death and the grieving that follows, shouldn’t be shunned.

Instead, it should inspire us to live more fully.

Side A:
1. The Face Of Losing
2. Growing Pains
3. Take You With Me
4. Tigress
5. Somebody Loved

Removing the vinyl record from its sleeve and placing it on the turntable, dropping the needle, it is very evident from the off that despite its heavy subject matter, Go Gentle (produced by Fisher and Jonas David), is not a dour record. With tracks ranging from comforting ballads, through cathartic observations, into instantly moving prose, it opens on the veritably shimmering, softly harmonized The Face Of Losing and then sliding seamlessly into the gentle balladry of Growing Pains, a road weary troubadour showcased within the mid-tempo fuzzy rocker Take You With Me, the impassioned Tigress, and then we get the jaunty Alt-Americana of Somebody Loved.

Side B:
6. In Her Hand
7. Underneath Your Wing
8. Mother Please Forgive Me
9. Independence Day
10. Box Of Dust

Flipping the vinyl over and replacing the needle once again on the groove, and with Fisher bravely confronting his own complicated views on mortality, perhaps even using Go Gentle as a roadmap for grief, along next is the flourishing In Her Hand and a cherished lilt within Underneath Your Wing, and they are in turn backed by the heartfelt outreach of Mother Please Forgive Me, the album rounding out on the robustly melodic Independence Day, closing on a shuddering ambiance that threads throughout the dulcet Box Of Dust.

Ian Fisher - Take You With Me [solo / live] [Official Video]

Ian Fisher - The Face of Losing [Official Video]

Official Purchase Links