Speaking from her now home base of Christchurch, in between touring the country, she said the album was written over a "very difficult but experientially rich time of life".
"I wrote it really just to process all the change I was going through of leaving my hometown of Arrowtown and moving to Auckland and then trying to find my feet up there and losing all my community and a lot of my identity, I think.
"I guess I hope that people who listen to it can be honest about where they're at as well and give them permission to say this is how I am really feeling and that's okay."
Musically, Arrowsmith says she has a better grasp of her sound now. "I feel like I have found my feet and I think it comes through in the production and we tried to keep it truer to my live show as well which is more stripped back so you can hear that in the production. It is quite minimalistic, I suppose."
The young New Mexican doesn't come from a musical family and only got into music fully in her late teens - progressing from guitar lessons to writing songs. "It's just in me. I think there was something in me that had to come out. I have always loved listening to music and my dad has good taste and I would listen to all his CDs after school."
In her short career, she has supported Sixto Rodrigues, Jessica Pratt, Tiny Ruins, Nadia Reid and toured with Fly My Pretties.
While it changes "every few weeks", the song which means the most to her is the last song on the album, Slow Train Creek, written in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, during her three-month, 23-stop tour of the United States with American folk musician Zach Winters. "I think it is just a song about being human and I have been feeling very human lately," she giggled.
It was during her rare off-time, holed up for two days with Winters, his wife and three young children in a log cabin that the inspiration came to her.
"I had this time pressure and I was putting a lot of stress on myself to write something. I was getting more and more frustrated, sitting outside trying to get this song to come together and Zach's daughter, Ramona, who's 4 years old came outside and started dancing around me and she really loved what I was writing even though I didn't think it was good enough or going anywhere. It was something about her childlike acceptance that unlocked that song and then after that it flowed out and I finished it in an hour or two."
As an independent artist, she has crowdfunded both albums to date and it is not something she plans on stopping, having raised $24,678 for latest release.
"Crowdfunding is such a great way to make music as an independent artist. Albums are very expensive things to pull off, and, if there are people who want to listen to your music already, this is a chance for them to pay in advance for a new album, and be part of its creation.
"I love the connection that you get as an artist to people and the best part of it for me is travelling and meeting people and hearing their stories and I think music allows you to open those doorways and crowdfunding is just another way to do that."
And while not having a label's backing does have its pitfalls, the singer-songwriter sees the bright side.
"I'm actually glad that I've been able to do it on my own for so long and figure out what is okay and what isn't and I think it will make me a lot more careful if I was ever offered a label contract. But there is definitely a value in boutique labels and indie labels, they can really do a lot that you can't do on your own.
"I am certainly open to offers but I will be very, very careful about choosing a label or anybody to be part of what I'm doing. I think a lot of artists who just start out and get swept up by big labels and big contracts ... often you can get a little bit blindsided."
She will perform her first show in Hawke's Bay tomorrow, having only been to the region before to pick up a van. And, who knows, it may be the place she writes her third album.
"I've not seen much of it at all and I'm really looking forward to it. I really like actually removing myself from normal life to write and I haven't been able to do that for quite a while so that's what I'm hoping to do in Hawke's Bay ... to just find somewhere peaceful and be a recluse for a few days and do some writing."
Holly Arrowsmith will be performing at the Common Room, Hastings tomorrow. She will be accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Phill Jones and supported by local Arahi. To buy tickets visit: http://www.hollyarrowsmith.com/shows/
