ON SALE SOON
Tuesday, Feb 17 2026, 10:00 AM CST

hemlocke springs - the apple tree under the sea tour
Sat, 30 May, 7:30 PM CDT
Doors open
6:30 PM CDT
Thalia Hall
1807 S Allport St, Chicago, IL 60608
ON SALE SOON
Tuesday, Feb 17 2026, 10:00 AM CST
Description
Please Note: There is a delivery delay on all orders until approximately three days prior to the show.
hemlocke springs - the apple tree under the sea tour with Special Guest: The Girl!
Once upon a time, there was an artist named hemlocke springs who dared to create fantastical worlds by weaving hyper-personal tales into exuberant, ’80s-inspired art-pop anthems. Now residing in the faraway land of Los Angeles, the singer, songwriter, and producer born Isimeme “Naomi” Udu was crowned a bedroom pop star in 2022 with her first songs ever “gimme all ur luv” and “girlfriend,” released while in graduate school for health informatics. Bestowed with early praise for those singles’ quirky melodies and bubblegum synths by DIY icons like Grimes and Steve Lacy — and dubbed one of Chappell Roan’s favorite artists — she swiftly went on to open for tours by fellow world-builders Doja Cat and Ashnikko (and shall sally forth with Conan Gray next). And her era-transcending catalog continues to capture new fans, with DOECHII going live on social media this year to walk her fans through “girlfriend,” saying, “This song is not even of this time. It surpasses this time. It’s incredible … She’s so good, she’s a rockstar, it’s crazy.” But now, hemlocke pushes her whimsical work to new genre-defying heights, revealing the next level of her theatrical artistry on her debut album, the apple tree under the sea.
The apple tree under the sea is a fever dream of a concept album in which our hero, hemlocke springs, sets off on a journey of self-discovery — one that requires her to confront the chaos and repression of her past in order to claim the full, liberatory life she once didn’t even know was possible. Sprinkled with references to her Christian upbringing with Nigerian immigrant parents, the project begins with her coming across a red apple — a symbol of knowledge or “worldly” things, as hemlocke explains, and then tracks her inner transformation as she unpacks the traumatic memories and longheld beliefs that held her back from self-acceptance.
“I grew up very religiously — Christianity is very pertinent in Nigerian culture and the Black community — and I was also obedient to my elders,” hemlocke says of her childhood years in Concord, North Carolina. “This album starts with a character going through the desert who says, ‘I’m going to do your will.’ They could be saying it to God or a man, but then they come across the apple. It’s about me being in this bubble, and realizing that being in that bubble was tougher than I thought, and then finally getting out and exploring who I really am.”
“Music was always my escape, it was nice to create that world for myself,” hemlocke springs says. Now with her debut LP, she’s fully writing her own story — dreaming up thrilling new narratives for her life and art by bringing that apple into existence and taking a huge bite.
Event Information
Age Limit
All Ages
eTicket Delivery
Your tickets will be e-mailed closer to the event date.