Rachel Bochner Navigates Grief, Guilt and Self-Discovery on I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently
Since emerging in 2020, New York singer-songwriter Rachel Bochner has developed a distinctive voice built around candid storytelling, vulnerability, and sharp self-awareness. Growing up as one of five sisters, she discovered performing through music and musical theatre before initially pursuing the business side of the industry, including an A&R internship at Republic Records. After beginning to write songs seriously around 2018 and graduating in 2019, Bochner realized she was more interested in creating music herself, eventually leaving a full-time PR job and moving to New York City to pursue her artist career. Influenced by artists including Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Julia Michaels, Taylor Swift, The 1975, and Maggie Rogers, she has since blended elements of alt-pop, indie-pop, and pop-rock with lyrics exploring relationships, insecurity, heartbreak, identity, and growing into yourself.
Early projects 2 AM and twenty something established that emotionally direct approach, while 2023’s It’s Not Me, It’s U pushed Bochner further toward a confident combination of vulnerability, humor, and cathartic pop songwriting. Rather than shying away from jealousy, bad decisions, heartbreak, or uncomfortable emotions, her music embraces their contradictions and turns them into relatable, hook-driven songs. Subsequent releases have continued expanding that perspective, reinforcing Bochner’s strength as a songwriter who can transform intensely personal experiences and late-night internal spirals into music that feels shared and immediately recognizable.
“In short, ‘I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently’ is a break up album and my dissection of how it happened. As break ups tend to be, the record is complicated and far from concise (very in line with its mouthful of a title), Written after the implosion of my long term relationship with a man, the album orbits my queer identity’s entanglement with insurmountable guilt, revelatory grief, and the start of complex acceptance.”
Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Bochner turns heartbreak, identity and self-discovery into the emotional core of her new album, I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently. Written in the aftermath of the end of a long-term relationship, the record explores the complicated overlap between grief and the growing realization of her queer identity. Rather than framing the breakup as a clean ending, Bochner examines the guilt, relief, confusion and unexpected joy that surfaced alongside it, capturing the tension of becoming more honest with herself while mourning what that honesty changed.
That conflict is especially vivid on album highlight “Fault Line,” where Bochner confronts the temptation to simplify the breakup by casting herself as inherently destructive. Turning self-blame and emotional chaos into cathartic indie-pop, the song reflects the album’s broader refusal to offer easy answers. Instead, I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently finds its power in contradiction, tracing the difficult process of accepting that heartbreak, liberation and guilt can all exist at once.
TOUR DATES
- 29th Sep – Schubas – Chicago, IL
- 30th Sep – Zhora Darling – Minneapolis, MN
- 2nd Oct – Goosetown Tavern – Denver, CO
- 4th Oct – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
- 6th Oct – Hidden Hall – Seattle, WA
- 8th Oct – The Faight – San Francisco, CA
- 10th Oct – The Moroccan Lounge – Los Angeles, CA
- 11th Oct – Last Exit Live – Phoenix, AZ
- 14th Oct – Three Links – Dallas, TX
- 15th Oct – Hole in the Wall – Austin, TX
- 17th Oct – The End – Nashville, TN
- 18th Oct – Altar at Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
- 21nd Oct – Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
- 22nd Oct – DC9 – Washington, DC
- 23rd Oct – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
- 24th Oct – The Rockwell – Boston, MA
Make sure you check out I Guess A Sure Thing Couldn’t Go Down Gently on Spotify below!
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Who am I? Just some guy who decided to start writing on the Internet years ago and now operates his own brand and site. Owner/Operator of Modern Neon Media, I make all kinds of niche content to suit my interests at the time. DIY Enthusiast, Brewmaster extraordinaire, and avid freak for geek culture. Follow on my socials for a more “on” version of me.
