Sarah Kinsley Delivers an Otherworldy Debut Album in ‘Escaper’
Photo: Dillon Matthew
For an artist whose subject matter of late feels multi-dimensional, pathing between worlds in song and voice, it almost feels surreal to see Sarah Kinsley emerge from around a Brooklyn corner and not out of a portal. Whatever your predisposition to simulation theory, dream state or time as a flat circle, Kinsley is very real, very vulnerable, and has a debut album that bridges the gap between the borderless capability of a classically trained musician and the deep emotive approachability of an artist having a hot beverage on a sweltering Brooklyn day.
Elevating the trauma bond with her piano to a melodic carousel of angular pop music, Kinsley is very much an artist who defies convention but also harmonizes the contrasting elements of her composition, giving immediate resolve measured with lingering dissonance. In other words, her music evokes that reality-suspending feeling of dreams, plumed with feelings of curiosity, grief, love, and loss, and the songs on Escaper are beautiful, tough, and sweet, often all at once.
Collecting songs for Escaper Kinsley admits was “so much more intense,” but the result is a journey between the cosmic and causal, zippering reality with dreams and the prolonged sense of self-aware vulnerability while on the move. Typically, Kinsley writes and produces her own work, but on this album, she was aided by accomplished producer John Congleton, who took the compositions she brought to the studio and gave them an elastic, explorative feeling. Some of that effect is most clearly felt on “Matter,” with its charged tempo, a quick tambourine beat that feels like a pop song, sounds like a pop song, but is so layered and revealing that it's difficult to revel in its layers.
The bulk of the songs on Escaper have that multidimensional vibe, a world-building sound hones its ephemeral presence with each replay. The album kicks off with a beautiful synth stammering progression and drum on “Last Time We Never Meet Again” that sails into an optimistic-sounding chorus, layering in the surreal narrative with beautiful vocal accents. In “Realms,” another single, a brash piano and drum part softens slightly into the verses before rising again over some of Kinsley's most beautiful vocal work, a delivery that does feel ripped from another realm. “Starling” is a moving, string-laden ballad that feels so unique on the album, a more standard approach that carries its melancholic lyrics with moving conviction. Standouts from the non-singles include “There Was A Room,” an '80s adjacent sound that bits and bops into a big echoey chorus. Then there's the titular “Escaper,” which ends this beautiful album with another vocally prodigious effort, a big sonic gambol that really showcases the big pop energy Kinsley is capable of and proof that no sound escapes her range.
If one could jump between the future and now, catching comets in a net or just using your imagination to propel you there, Escaper would be the perfect soundtrack companion. The marrying of a meta understanding of music, the deep introspection of a poet's pen, and possibly the diving between dreams and reality, Escaper is an immediate artistic statement, and while it makes it easier to take you to another place, there is no escaping its profound beauty.
Listen to Escaper below:
