Semler
Semler, the artist project of singer-songwriter Grace Baldridge, isn’t your run-of-the-mill contemporary Christian musical act. They pretty much break all the unspoken rules of the genre. They’re a queer independent artist not backed by a major label or a megachurch. Semler songs are an honest depiction of a modern, matured faith, one that’s openhearted and deep-rooted. It wouldn’t be a reach to say that they play in a space where there are simply no rules at all — no expectations shaped by commercialized faith traditions or by industry management. If they want to release a song about a wrestler from the ’90s or sell merch handmade by their dad, Semler can and will.
After nearly a decade of bite-size releases, Baldridge released the first Semler album Revival in My Mind in February 2025. It’s Semler’s thesis statement, detailing Baldridge’s coming of age as a preacher’s kid and the reckoning that comes afterward. If you grew up in an evangelical Christian household, there’s plenty here that will resonate. A passage that cuts particularly deep: “Oh what a terrible honor it’s been / To learn that my blessings are things you’d call sins / I’ll spend the rest of my life tearing down / The Jesus from Texas you put in a crown.”
Baldridge says the choice to finally release a full-length album was an exercise in expanding their own comfort zone, growing more confident in their voice and instincts and taking a chance on themself.
“I don’t want to let my insecurity drive the car of my songs and my art,” Baldridge tells the Scene. “So that’s something honestly I’m still working on, and I’m sure I’ve missed the mark. [I’m trying to] get right with the instrument that I have to work with, because it’s mine.”
Since Revival’s release, Semler has wasted no time in putting out follow-ups. Live From Los Angeles came in August, and the eight-song set Mirages arrived March 13 ahead of a headlining tour. While Revival in My Mind is a contemporary Christian album, Mirages is an indie folk-rock project. The title track is a moody distillation of an experience Baldridge had with a neighbor, who they at first mistook for a former friend. There’s a play here between Semler the artist and Grace Baldridge the human, where the Semler moniker allows Baldridge to dive into the past and examine wounds that have already healed.
“Grace gets over stuff — I am fine, I have a stable, rich life,” says Baldridge. “But whenever there’s an opportunity to, like, ‘Ooh, should we unpack that even more,’ then that’s when Semler comes in being like, ‘Right … she did look like your friend.’”
Mirages’ sonic roots reach broadly from Americana to grunge to Lilith Fair-core singer-songwriter fare, and its subject matter spans just as widely. Could a struggling indie band signed to a midlevel label end their record with an ode to wrestling legend Chyna and her unjust exclusion from the WWE Hall of Fame? Probably not. But Semler can, and it’s unironically awesome.
It’s worth noting that nearly every Semler tour includes a Nashville show, which for a smaller indie artist based in California is kind of a big deal. (The tour following Mirages begins Thursday at Exit/In, with support from Sierra Carson.) Baldridge cites Nashville as a secondary anchor point for Semler, due partly to proximity to family, but also for the city’s accessibility for touring musicians.
From an outsider’s perspective, a Semler show in Nashville just makes sense. There’s an ever-growing population of young Nashvillians disillusioned by megachurch culture and the religion of the rich and powerful seeking something that feels real, and Semler’s music handily fits that bill. Their shows are revivals — places where family and friends meet together to bond over a common goal, living life fully and without shame. This is captured best in a staple of the Semler show experience that lives at the merch table rather than onstage: Dad Merch, a selection of upcycled apparel customized with the Semler “brand,” handmade by Baldridge’s father, a retired Episcopal priest. Each piece tells the same story as a Semler song: The things that have been can grow into things that are even better and more beautiful than you ever could have imagined, and that there is family everywhere for those who look.
