When Minneapolis-native Breymer, aka Sarah Walk, started writing her highly personal third album “When I Get Through,” she said she didn’t think at all about eventually performing the songs — all she could think about was writing.

Still, the indie artist, who uses both she and they pronouns, exuded strength and vulnerability in their performance of the record on Oct. 26 at Berlin in Minneapolis’ North Loop.

“When I Get Through,” released on Oct. 16, details the artist’s journey leading up to when they got top surgery two years ago.

“It’s the most personal body of work I’ve ever done,” Breymer said in an interview with the Minnesota Daily.

Berlin, an intimate, European-inspired jazz lounge, had lit candles at all of the tables in their cozy space, creating a relaxed atmosphere receptive to their show of intense vulnerability.

Projections of illustrations by transgender Latino artist Santo Jacobsson sought to add to the immersiveness, but the only space for their art was a small sliver of the wall next to the drumset, which not all audience members could see.

“It was definitely a con of the space,” Breymer said. “I wanted another way to get into the story so people could see someone else’s perspective on the songs. My story is not only my story”

The release show also included a raffle for Family Tree Clinic, a sexual health and gender care clinic located in Stevens Square, Minneapolis.

“I wanted to make this as community-focused as possible,” Breymer said. “Family Tree does incredible work, and it’s only right to incorporate them into this. Even if someone just picked up their brochure from the merch table, they’ll know that these places exist.”

Breymer said they tried to channel their angsty musical inspirations such as Fiona Apple and Jeff Buckley into their performance, which came through as they hammered into Berlin’s Steinway grand piano and sang with their deep, soft vocals.

The 11-track record documents Breymer’s internal struggles of gender dysphoria and mental health issues that culminated in their decision to get top surgery.

Breymer experiments with both stripped-down guitar and piano as well as more processed sounds, often combining both on a single track. Still, the sonic transitions within each song are smooth.

Breymer’s skills as a drummer also show through their smartly composed percussion.

Most importantly, the album “When I Get Through” hits on the deep pain of dysphoria and how treating it can instill a radically different worldview in trans people.

“I was trying so hard to deal with my anxiety and depression, but I was really just putting a band-aid over the real problem,” Breymer said.

The second track, “Medication,” addresses this exact issue, asking how far antidepressants truly reach when there could be deeper issues at play.

“I can’t tell what’s in my heart or in my head,” she sings. “If it’s real, why won’t this help?”

Throughout the track is a backing track of Breymer singing, “Am I better now?”

An important nuance Breymer pointed out, however, is that getting top surgery was not a cure-all.

“I still struggle with anxiety and depression,” they said. “I’ve felt deep relief with the start of this new chapter, but life still goes on.”

While emotional turmoil imbues the first half of the album, a light spot, ironically, exists in the song “Darkness,” which Breymer wrote for her wife.

“She was dealing with a lot, and even though I was too, it reminded me that I was strong enough to be there for her,” they told the audience at Berlin.

Fuzzy acoustic guitar accentuates Breymer’s tender, echoey vocals on the album, though their live performance was stripped down to only acoustic guitar and drums.

Breymer’s wife, who was running the projector, swayed along.

The second half of the album embodies the forward progression of self-discovery towards Breymer’s surgery date. With newfound knowledge of what they need, she seeks to right the struggling relationships and other issues in her life that dysphoria had been causing.

While “Better Friend” is a rock-inspired electronic jam, the narrative does start to drag around the five-minute piano ballad “Who Am I?” and the title track.

The final track, “Anesthesia,” encapsulates Breymer’s focus on their journey rather than their destination, marking the moment when she is being put under on the operating table.

“I’m gonna wake up reborn!” they boomed into the microphone at Berlin. The live performance concluded with a cacophony of instrumentation that fades into nothingness as all of the struggles and turmoil from before dissipate.

While Breymer’s personal experience defines “When I Get Through,” they said they wanted queer and trans listeners to apply their story to it.

“It does get better. It really does,” Breymer said. “There’s a new color of life that can be yours.”