If your ears haven’t yet been graced by the aural wonder that spills from the music created by musician, singer, and producer Sarah Kinsley, then her new Ascension EP is the one to cling your soul to. It’s the fourth EP she’s shared since she started releasing music back in 2020, her sound growing ever more enchanting with each new offering. The wonder lies in both her crystalline vocals and poetically lucid songwriting — as well as a penchant for creating these resoundingly cavernous soundscapes that billow with lush instrumentals.
Across the five tracks on Ascension, Kinsley conjures up a gleaming array of moments whose light and warmth radiate throughout the album, creating an ephemeral paradise she can visit through song. “Oh No Darling!” opens the EP with a driving and elastic rhythm around which she wraps her melodious cries. Buoyantly luminous the song casts a nostalgic glance back at childhood and first loves that’s tempered by a wistful realization that we can never really know what comes next.
The anthemics continue to surge with “Black Horse,” another song that sees Kinsley dazzling with captivating vocals against the rush of resonant drums and warm synths. On it, she offers a glimpse of fiery renewal that grasps earnestly for a reclamation of identity: “But now, something in me screams / To be wild, to be obscure / To stop playing the first-born daughter in your American-dream.” The music video for the song, directed by Lucy Blumenfield, offers an invigorating vision of Kinsley’s revival that finds her dancing and illuminated amongst neon hues and verdant landscapes.
Other standouts on Ascension include its ethereal title track that descends to the depths of this translucent piano melody, growing increasingly deafening and iridescent alongside Kinsley’s heartache. Or its final track “Sliver Of Time” which finds her eulogizing amidst this cascading dreaminess on the bittersweet memories of a love she still cherishes. “Maybe love cannot save us from it,” she coos resplendently. “But for one night and one night only / You can say you knew me / You held me like this.”
Once you’re perpetually enamored by Kinsley’s new EP you would do well to wander through some of her other gorgeous collections, like her Cypress and King EPs. Although comparisons to many other contemporaries abound — from her liberating contortions of confessional pop that invoke Lorde and Maggie Rogers to her opulent lyricism and melodies that call to mind the likes of Weyes Blood — it’s exceptionally clear Kinsley is carving out a niche that’s all her own.
ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BEST NEW MUSIC
Visit Sarah Kinsley on their website, TikTok, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to Ascension the new EP from Sarah Kinsley below!
This post may contain affiliate links. Ads and affiliate links are how independent blogs like Grimy Goods can operate. Thank you for supporting our work and being a part of our music community.
