January 2025 – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Population II let you know to take the kettle off the stove with their new single – “Le Thé Est Prêt.”

Population II is a band dedicated to its disengagement, constantly working on refining their imposing, yet unpretentious sound. Composed of singer/drummer Pierre-Luc Gratton, guitarist/keyboardist Tristan Lacombe, and bassist Sébastien Provençal, the trio began recording a handful of independent releases that soon caught the attention of the independent label Castle Face Records, who released their debut À la Ô Terre in 2020, and in 2023 the band released their sophomore album Électrons libres du québec via Bonsound, which lead into a heavy period of touring in the US and Canada, including a run with OSEES.

The band delves into tasseomancy on their new single “Le thé est prêt” (French for “The tea is ready”), which arrives today to mark the announce of their new LP Maintenant Jamais, their third full-length album, which is due out on March 28th via Bonsound. The release also coincides with the start of a European tour, which includes shows in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK (full details of the tour dates can be found below).

LISTEN TO POPULATION II’S “LE THE EST PRET”

A crisp, spellbinding intro sets the mood for the first song on Maintenant Jamais, Population II‘s third album. With the guidance of producer Dominic Vanchesteing (Marie Davidson, Chocolat, Peter Peter), the turbulence of the band’s previous releases is structured and refined. The result is a sophisticated rock album that surprises with its languorous grooves, as heard on Le thé est prêt, while staying true to the raw power for which the band is renowned, as demonstrated on vigorous tracks such as La Trippance and Rédemption naturelle.

The album follows with Prévisions, a song that ripples with finesse before abruptly transitioning into the instrumental number Macavélique rock. While Haut-fond and Cardinaux are true feats of elegant prog rock, Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai) and Homme étoilé prove that Population II is also endowed with a profound melodic sensibility capable of creating catchy and explosive hooks.
On this new album, the trio fine-tunes the distinctive style they’ve been developing for several years, thanks in part to a fusion of shared influences – from Soft Machine to MC5 to L’Infonie – but also to a rare complicity that can only blossom between such close friends. This creative chemistry is what makes the band’s complex songwriting seem so fluid and supple. Population II breaks through their previous sonic frontiers while staying true to their roots. Therein lies the achievement of Maintenant Jamais, to be released on March 28, 2025, via Bonsound.

PREORDER MAINTENANT JAMAIS HERE

Tour Dates

01/14 – Biarritz, FR – L’Atabal*

01/15 – Bordeaux, FR – Rock*

01/16 – Angers, FR – Chabada*

01/17 – Rennes, FR – L’Antipode*

01/18 – Brest, FR – La Carène*

01/21 – Antwerp, BE – Trix*

01/22 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg*

01/23 – Liège, BE – Le Reflektor*

01/24 – Dijon, FR – La Vapeur*

01/25 – Orléans, FR – L’Astrolabe*

01/27 – Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK – Cumberland Arms

01/28 – Sheffield, UK – The Washington

01/29 – Brighton, UK – Dalton’s

01/30 – London, UK – The Shacklewell Arms

01/31 – Bristol, UK – The Lanes

02/01 – Manchester, UK – Big Hands

02/02 – Guildford, UK – The Boiler Room**

02/04 – Paris, FR – Le Petit Bain

*Opening for SLIFT

**Opening for Miki Berenyi Trio

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OHYUNG’s new single is “No Good” (but it’s actually pretty good).

Today, OHYUNG—the solo project of Brooklyn-based musician and composer Lia Ouyang Rusli—announces their new album, You Are Always On My Mind, set for release on March 28 via NNA Tapes & Phantom Limb. A striking work of trip-hop-laced, rave-inspired electronic pop, the album explores Rusli’s gender transition, marking another bold reinvention of their ceaselessly shapeshifting project and their most cohesive, accessible statement to date. In their own words, OHYUNG describes the record as “my trans self and my former self in conversation, from both perspectives.”

You Are Always On My Mind captures their lengthy, complicated, but crucial journey between lives, strewn with both doubt and excitement. It is an ecstatic, pop-oriented shift in direction from an artist primarily known for electronic music, noise, hip-hop, and ambient, but carried with sleek confidence, maturity, and a silvery, hallucinogenic shimmer that reveals Rusli’s expansive sonic background. It is, writes Rusli, “sometimes written from a dark place and other times from a place of happiness.” Throughout, darkness and light rise and fall in layers of phased strings, trip-hop drum production, and earworming vocal lines.

Alongside the announcement, OHYUNG shares the lead single “no good,” which arrives with a video by the rising directorial talent day.The video features OHYUNG in varying forms—the bride, a statuesque scarlet diva, and a rave girl in biker boots performing in an empty warehouse—each echoing the others through choreographed movements. The hazy pop song is an anthem about the contradictory fear of becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be, and an ode to the transformative possibilities of raving. Images of liquid, morphing metal evoke the metamorphosis at the heart of the album, and the video closes with the poem “Do You Think I’m Disco” by Olivia Sio Tse, immersing the viewer into the interstitial and wordless space that the club offers us all: “There before I was there / I wanted you to imagine.”

WATCH/STREAM “NO GOOD”

A film score composer by trade, Rusli’s songwriting craft is meticulous and nuanced. You Are Always On My Mind was, perhaps surprisingly, formed primarily from processed “generic string loops” found in online sample packs—a strange and willfully jarring reminder that what seems to be is not always what is. Recontextualized, these string loops enshadow the simplicity of their origins, revealing a grace and purposefulness perhaps not even imagined by their authors, subtly drawing out euphoria and tension in equal balance.

Rusli also writes about the influence of rave culture central to their transition and the record’s production and themes. “It’s a declaration of love for raves and the dark hazy rooms that helped me to be free and true with myself—seeing other people who are so free and beautiful and thinking that one day that can be me— that’s me in the future.” But there is also a fear and unease present. Lead single “no good” explores “the worst version of myself as a trans person, feeding doubt to my pre-transition self” with its core lyric “anyone can see / I’m no good for you,” delivered over a relentless beat, swooning strings, and glistening synthesis.

A vital and standout voice in the New York City music scene, OHYUNG has consistently pushed boundaries with their work. Their debut album, Untitled (Chinese Man with Flame), released by Deathbomb Arc, and its follow-up, PROTECTOR, released via Chinabot, are extraordinary cross-genre collisions featuring distorted 808s, pitch-shifted rapping, frenetic pop energy, and eclectic electronic loops. In 2022, OHYUNG sidestepped expectations with a monumental two-hour ambient opus titled imagine naked!, which was highly lauded by critics, includingThe Quietus, who described it as a “masterful selection of muscular, shuddering, trembling ambient excursions,” and NPR Music hailing the record as one of the best albums of 2022.

You Are Always On My Mind arrives as Rusli’s prominence as a sought-after film composer continues to rise. Their recent scoring credits include A24’s Problemista and HBO’s Fantasmas by Julio Torres as well as Happyend by Neo Sora (son of the late visionary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto). Elsewhere, Rusli’s film work includes Miles Warren‘s critically acclaimed Hulu film Bruiser and Shatara Mitchell Ford’s Test Pattern, which earned nominations at the Gotham Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. Additionally, Rusli has scored the short film Bambirak and Rest Stop, which won Jury Awards for International Fiction and U.S. Fiction, respectively, at Sundance.

To celebrate the release, OHYUNG will host their New York City album release show at Market Hotel on March 28, joined by Dreamcrusher and Holland Andrews. Find details and tickets here. Listen to “no good” above, pre-order You Are Always On My Mind below, and stay tuned for more updates from OHYUNG coming very soon.

PREORDER ‘YOU ARE ALWAYS ON MY MIND’

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Horsegirl suggest you “Switch Over” to their new single.

Horsegirl — the New York-via-Chicago trio of best friends Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece — unveil the new single/video, “Switch Over,” from their upcoming second album, Phonetics On and On, out February 14th via Matador Records. Following previously released singles, “2468” and “Julie,” “Switch Over” feels almost motorik in its pulse as the track dances back and forth between Cheng and Lowenstein’s swapping vocals.

The “Switch Over” video was directed by Guy Kozak, who came to the band with the idea of switching on / off and doubling concepts. Uncanny in its concept, the video explores the concept of “band-watching-band,” with layered shots of the trio watching themselves perform in the same room.

Watch the Video for “Switch Over”

Produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at The Loft in Chicago, Horsegirl’s original and sonic home, Phonetics On and On is an exploration of the lines between pop, minimalism, and playful experimentation. With the help of Le Bon, Horsegirl expands into bright and clear sonic territories utilizing new tools, including violins, synths, and gamelan tiles, to bring this world to life. It’s an album to dance to, as Reece’s dancing drum melodies and Lowenstein’s bright guitar leads direct your attention to the band’s chemistry and mastery of form.

There’s a confident simplicity to the songwriting here. Horsegirl writes with an unanticipated honesty, leading us through scenes of girlhood and youth, as tenderness reverberates back and forth across the recording. You can see the love that comes with being a band of best friends. It’s a love that is ever-present in Phonetics On and On.

Horsegirl will play a record release show on February 22nd at the Metro in Chicago, and will tour the southeast and northeast in March with Free Range supporting, before touring the UK and Europe later in 2025. All tickets are on sale now and available here.

Pre-order Phonetics On and On

Watch the Video for “2468”

Watch the Video for “Julie”

Horsegirl Tour Dates
Sat. Feb. 22 – Chicago, IL @ Metro (Record Release Show) ^
Fri. Mar. 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church %
Sat. Mar. 22 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat %
Sun. Mar. 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings %
Mon. Mar. 24 – Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse %
Wed. Mar. 26 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom %
Thu. Mar. 27 – Somerville, MA @ Arts at The Armory %
Fri. Mar. 28 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater %
Sat. Mar. 29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw %
Sat. June 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Tue. June 10 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Club
Wed. June 11 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Szimpla
Sat. June 14 – Porto, PT @ Primavera Sound Porto
Mon. June 16 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn
Tue. June 17 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Wed. June 18 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
Fri. June 20 – London, UK @ Scala
Sat. June 21 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
Sun. June 22 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono
Tue. June 24 – Dublin, IE @ The Workman’s Club
Thu. June 26 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla

^ w/ Lifeguard & Answering Machines
% w/ Free Range

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Slowdive – Just for a Day (2011 reissue)

Slowdive were one of the best shoegaze bands to come out of the 1990s, but also one of the best-kept secrets in the genre for a while. I don’t know if I, or anyone, can explain this, because they’re widely praised among the genre’s enthusiasts and have been playing sold-out shows across the world since their comeback self-titled album released in 2017.

Just for a Day was their 1991 full-length debut, and it’s full of classic touches that make you realize how much they influenced many other bands. The opening somber notes of “Spanish Air” are as good as anything The Cure was making back then, and just as hypnotic. “Celia’s Dream” seems to be a love letter from Neil Halstead to the girl in the title as he sings about shadows drifting away from her, but also her drifting away from him.

“Catch the Breeze” was the lone single from the album, which makes sense when you consider the big, fuzzy wall of sound that hits you in the chorus. “Ballad of Sister Sue” sounds like it could’ve been recorded in an abandoned church with its echoing guitars, mysterious vocals, and distant drums. “Erik’s Song” ends side one of the album with ethereal, instrumental bliss.

Side two begins with “Waves” – a song about leaving a relationship and the freedom that can sometimes bring (“You’re knocking on the door I closed today, and everything looks brighter.”). Speaking of things being brighter, that’s the theme of, you guessed it, “Brighter” – a song about finding hope when things look dark and trusting that tomorrow can bring something better.

“The Sadman” has Rachel Goswell‘s astral plane voice telling us of a being who calls to us when our hearts are broken. Is it someone she knows? A mythical figure? A guy she met outside a gig who looked broken down but still tried to make her laugh? I don’t know, but this needs to be in a movie somewhere. The record ends with “Primal,” which might be the best pairing of Nick Chaplin (bass) and Simon Scott (drums) on the album. They snap and thump in perfect rhythm with each other and never overpower Halstead, Goswell, and Christian Savill. That’s not easy to do when those three are playing shoegaze riffs that grow and grow like a sunrise through rainclouds.

It’s a nice debut record that hinted at bigger things to come and is now considered a bit of a classic.

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Frederico Albanese shares “Song for the Village” to make us yearn for a trip to Italy.

Italian artist, producer, pianist and composer Federico Albanese’s upcoming album Blackbirds And The Sun Of October was inspired by – and entirely written and recorded in – Albanese’s home region of Monferrato in Northern Italy. “It’s an album about coming home, and reconnection,” he says. “Above all, about heritage.” It’s set for a February 7th release via XXIM Records.

This release, his first full length album for the label, marks a new chapter in his already stellar career. Restlessly creative, Albanese’s ever-evolving quest for new sounds and experimentation has been more extensive than most.

Today Albanese shares his latest single from the album, “Song for the Village.”

After an early childhood playing piano, he became interested in jazz, picking up the clarinet, before a teenage fascination with punk rock bands led to him learning bass guitar. Later still, he devoured the new-age music of the late 90s, immersing himself in the works of artists such as Brian Eno and William Basinski.

Swirling all that together, and having moved to Berlin from his native Italy, Albanese wrote and recorded four albums over his eight years there; each focused on a specific theme, and each adored by critics and fans alike. But for Blackbirds And The Sun Of October he felt a change was required, both thematically and geographically. “I started my whole career in Berlin, my children were born there, and I have a deep connection with all that, but it will never be my home,” he says. “And as beautiful as Berlin can be – it’s a very beautiful city – it’s a different kind of beauty to Monferrato. The northern Italian countryside in the fall is a whole different story.”

This return to his home turf in autumn 2022 – being back in the picturesque countryside, and feeling, as he says, “profoundly connected to this place”, proved inspiring in so many ways. “There’s a sense of freedom about returning that seeps into everything you do – including music.” His compositions started to reflect the deep, natural beauty that surrounded him – the colours, the wildlife, the changing of the seasons – but also the rich history, and the many myths and legends passed down through generations over thousands of years. “This place breathes history,” he adds. “It’s very romantic in that sense.”

This new chapter proved to be a significant evolution in Albanese’s work. His previous albums often explored themes of memory, inner worlds, and imaginary landscapes, with each album having a distinct, thematic focus. In contrast, Blackbirds And The Sun Of October draws directly from the physical world around him — the history, nature, and beauty. “I can sense the freedom in this music,” he says, “and there’s more positivity in it. I can feel it’s something different that before.” He talks about the music flowing out of him, naturally, a reflection of his surroundings, and how emboldening this was.

That freedom – and the reflection of his heritage and his return to his roots – also led him to employ a rich tapestry of musical influences, blending classical music with more contemporary sounds. Yet the natural beauty of the Italian countryside initially posed a challenge – how to create something that matched the beauty already present around him? Pushed to explore new directions and ideas in his music, Blackbirds And The Sun Of October includes compositions that feel timeless, drawing on the classical traditions of the region, alongside more modern, experimental pieces. “I felt freer to do things that I normally wouldn’t do, like adding drums, or writing a suite for just piano and cello that could be 400 years old.”

So we have the quiet, plaintive piano and strings of “The Prince and the Emperor”, based on the tale of Knight Aleramo and Emperor Otto I from the 10th Century AD, and the bright, hopeful “Adelasia”, inspired by the Princess who so charmed Aleramo. There’s a fragility here too, soft moments of gentle beauty that glow like sunlight on dew; the delicacy of “A Story Yet Io Be Told” and “Song For the Village”, or the calming tranquillity of “Wallpaper Of Dreams”.

“Blackbirds and the sun of October is a title that just felt right from the start – I wanted to find an image that could perfectly capture the essence of the place and time where the album began to take shape”, Albanese explains. “The blackbirds, the autumn light – there was a sense of magic in those moments that I wanted to translate into music. It conveyed all the elements that made this album what it is.”

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Review: Ben Lukas Boysen – Alta Ripa

Ben Lukas Boysen decided to change things up a bit on his new album, Alta Ripa. He wanted to reconnect with the countryside of his youth, but also embrace Berlin-inspired dance music. So, he combined ambient electro with EDM as well as jazz and classical sounds his father often played for him as a kid. He took those elements and grew an album more than he designed it.

“Ours” starts with soft synths that evoke images of birds gliding over meadows and then landing atop the Tyrell Corporation’s replicant factory as the electro-beats drop. The choppy synths of “Mass” remind me of a string quartet playing fast, low-end notes, and then the bass drop adds an interesting sense of danger to the whole thing.

“Quasar” builds to what you think is going to be a good-sized bass drop, but instead takes the mellow approach and keeps the song soothing. The title track is even more hypnotic and will be a great addition to your mediation playlist.

The bumping bass of “Nox” makes you want to put on dark sunglasses and matching trenchcoat and then find the nearest goth dance club. “Vineta” is synthwave bliss suitable for floating in a zero-gravity pool of saltwater. “Fama” pulses and snaps like a grumpy robot doing a spin bike workout. The album ends with “Mere” – which floats you along a slow river while android birds sing to you and warm winds drift through ancient ruins.

This album will take you to another place, possibly one you’ve been craving for a while.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Kiasmos – II

Minimalist techno plus orchestral sounds to create atmospheric dance tracks? Yeah. That sounds good to me, and is what you get on Kiasmos‘ II.

“Grown” immediately levitates you from the floor and puts you in a better mood with its electro-percussion and happy krautrock beats. “Burst” bumps and thumps with little string quartet touches that are outstanding. “Sailed” percolates with energy but doesn’t boil over thanks to the subtle synths in it.

“Laced” sounds like something fellow Icelander Björk wished she had on her last album (happy synths and strings, little jazzy electric piano touches), and now I want a collaboration between her and Kiasmos. “Laced” nicely drifts into “Bound,” which has thicker bass and even more beats.

The mellow jazz piano on “Sworn” matches well with the swaying string quartet sounds that almost take it into New Age stylings. “Spun” keeps up the strings and bumps up the BPM. “Flown” drifts into “Told,” which keeps you moving and will be great for the second leg of your morning run. The lapping water sounds and soft synths on “Dazed” might leave you as such.

The album winds down with “Squared.” It lets the string quartet shine for almost the first minute before the synths build behind them to a slick beat that lasts the rest of the track and reminds you to keep dancing and / or meditating after it’s finished.

It’s a cool instrumental synthwave record that you’ll end up recommending to many.

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Review: Leathers – Ultraviolet

Good heavens, this is gorgeous.

Leathers, otherwise known as Canadian synth / dark wave artist Shannon Hemmett, has delivered Ultraviolet — another lush, excellent record that you’ll want on repeat for every late night drive or goth party you’re throwing.

The title track is full of beautiful synths and Leathers’ sexy / spooky vocals. “Highrise” would fit right in on the soundtrack to every late night sexy Cinemax thriller starring Shannon Tweed as Leathers sings “Isn’t it nice in your high rise? Like the page from a magazine that’s come to life…”

“Punish me for wanting more. I’m the one you can’t ignore,” Leathers sings on “Crash.” She’s right. You can’t ignore her, the thumping synth-bass, or the New Romantic-style guitar solo. “Fascination” isn’t a cover of the Human League tune (although that would be amazing), but it is a sultry song about being immediately intrigued with someone you see perhaps at a dark club or in a futuristic airport lounge. “Day for Night” is a lovely ballad and a nice mid-point to the album.

The breathy, sexy “Divine” follows it. It’s a bumping track that doesn’t go too heavy, but does get you in the mood (“I’ll give you a taste of the divine.”). “Phantom Heart” will get you both in the mood and to the dance floor. “Daydream Trash” could be a rediscovered New Wave track from 1986. Leathers nails the sound and feel of that era on it and on “Runaway,” which opens with her saying, “Let’s run away.” and you looking for airfare to Vancouver and tickets for two beyond that.

The album ends with the haunting “Mary,” which seems to be a song about a friend (?) of Leathers (“Mary was a girl I knew.”) who finds love despite not wanting it, and then running from it for fear it will hurt her again (“I got what I wanted. Now I’m running out.”).

This is the kind of record that will make you wonder why more people haven’t heard it, but it’s also nice to think of it as a sexy secret you have with some special people.

Keep your mind open.

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Morgan Nagler releases her debut single – “Crade the Pain.”

Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Morgan Nagler, best known for her bands Whispertown and Supermoon, presents her first single under her own name, “Cradle The Pain.” With jaw-dropping melodies, lyrics that cut right to the heart, and her distinctively beautiful, plaintive howl, you’ll probably wonder how Nagler seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The thing is, she’s been hiding in plain sight for a minute now, waiting for the perfect moment to emerge from band names and behind-the-scenes co-writes with her truest musical statement yet.

Through a GRAMMY-nominated collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, as well as with The Breeders, Haim, and Madi Diaz, Nagler has spent years honing her ability to craft tunes both heartbreaking and clever with and for other artists. She has become a hugely in-demand co-writer – someone an artist will call in when they really want to get to the core of a feeling.

Reminiscent of Breeders-esque fuzzed-out indie-rock with big, power-pop hooks, “Cradle The Pain” is a preview of Nagler’s next chapter. Produced by King Tuff’s Kyle Thomas, mixed by Alex Farrar (Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Snail Mail) and featuring a stellar backing band including both Thomas and Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) on guitar, and Josh Adams (Cat Power, Weyes Blood, Tim Heidecker) on drums, “Cradle The Pain” displays Nagler’s poetic acumen, atop an instantly memorable melody. “I originally wrote this song as a sort of letter to one of my dear friends,” Nagler explains. “It’s funny how it’s often easier to cut to the core of truth when the message is disguised as being for somebody else. It has since taken on many new and personal meanings to me, currently serving as more of a mantra. I think we inherently know it’s all in our own hands, but the allure of not being accountable allows us to romanticize falling victim to the whims of fate. I am constantly needing the reminder that perspective truly is the key to life, and only we contain our own salvations. We have to just keep getting back on the saddle again and again. Cradle the pain, it’s all the same, it’s what you make of it.” The song’s accompanying video was directed by Christian Stavros and edited by David Checel.

Listen to “Cradle the Pain”

Watch the video for “Cradle The Pain”

Nagler will be sharing more music next year, and is putting finishing touches on an album. “This song is the first of a body of work I consider closest to home,” she says. “After spending my childhood as an actor taking on alternate personalities, my young adult days writing and touring in various indie projects, and the last several years writing with and for other artists, I’ve compiled a personal collection of songs alongside Kyle. They will be released under my name for the first time, which is appropriate as I feel pretty raw and more like myself than ever. So in many ways, regardless of a lifetime spent in the trenches of creativity, this feels like a debut.”

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

SPELLLING announces new album, “Portrait of My Heart,” with the title track.

SPELLLING (aka Chrystia Cabral) announces her new album, Portrait of My Heart, out March 28th via Sacred Bones, and shares a video for the lead single, “Portrait of My Heart.” On Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror, as her lyrics for Portrait of My Heart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something she says is “pointed into my human heart.” The result is the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date, and its immediacy emphasizes the essential mutability of Cabral’s practice. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s The Turning Wheel to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.

In what became the genesis for the rest of Portrait of My Heart, the title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of “I don’t belong here,” is the most potent embodiment of the album’s turn toward emotional directness. Once Cabral came up with the main melody, she found herself using the song as a tool to work through the anxiety she sometimes struggles with as a performer: “If this is what I’m supposed to be doing, and that I’ve chosen this life path, why does it cause me so much discomfort all the time?”

“When the lyrics for the title track came together, it really started to morph everything in this more energetic direction, instead of this more whimsical landscape that I’ve worked with before. It started to become more driven, higher energy, more focused,” Cabral explains. “And I have a big affection for it because of that. I love that it feels like it withstood transformation, which is something I always want to aspire to with things that I make. I want them to have this sense of timelessness. It could exist like this, or like that, or like this, but this is the one for right now.”

The accompanying video directed by Ambar Navarro explores the obsession that comes with making art when you’re deep in the hole of creativity and it consumes you.

Stream/Watch “Portrait of My Heart”

Before undertaking her tour for The Turning Wheel, Cabral assembled a band including core members Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), and their ongoing collaboration has uncovered new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for Portrait of My Heart to her bandmates, named the Mystery School, helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers—The Turning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA, collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.

However, Portrait of My Heart is also shaped significantly by its guest musicians. The original plan was to have a featured artist on every track; that idea was scrapped when Cabral realized some of the material was too personal to put in someone else’s mouth. But a few key features help shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) sings on “Mount Analogue,” the first true duet in the SPELLLING discography. Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral’s original piano demo for “Alibi” into the crunchy, riff-y version that appears on the record, while Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous gives “Drain” its sludgy heft. These parts aren’t just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe.

Ultimately, though, Portrait of My Heart is nobody’s record but Cabral’s. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she’s never included in SPELLLING before—her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. “It’s very much an open diary of all those sensations,” she says. There’s a real generosity in that, as listeners may recognize themselves in Portrait of My Heart in a way they haven’t on past albums.

SPELLLING will be touring the US this coming spring, beginning with a special hometown headlining show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, before making stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Austin, and more. Tickets are on sale now and are available here.

Pre-order Portrait of My Heart

SPELLLING Tour Dates:
Fri. April 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. April 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. April 25 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
Sat. April 26 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
Mon. April 28 – Austin, TX @ Parish
Tue. April 29 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Wed. April 30 – New Orleans, LA @ Santos
Fri. May 2 – Atlanta, GA @ The EARL
Sat. May 3 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
Sun. May 4 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Tue. May 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Fri. May 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sat. May 10 – Amherst, MA @ The Drake
Mon. May 12 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Tue. May 13 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Wed. May 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Thu. May 15 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
Sat. May 17 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Mon. May 19 – Reno, NV @ The Holland Project

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]