Born in California, raised in Connecticut and Singapore and currently residing in New York, 24-year-old Sarah Kinsley makes deft alt-pop that combines musical and geographical experience-collecting. Having trained in classical piano and violin from childhood, she studied music theory at Columbia University and then began swerving left: self-recording and releasing around the turn of the decade; making light but intricate tracks influenced by the likes of St Vincent and Angel Olsen. A TikTok video responding to the comment “women don’t produce music”, in which Kinsley filmed herself tapping on walls and thumping sofas – eventually combining the sounds to produce the backbone of 2021 track Over + Under – sent her viral.
Her newly released debut LP, Escaper, takes its title from a period of grief, mourning the death of a close friend. “Escapism became the most natural survival instinct,” she told NME. “I just wanted to transcend life, become someone else.” Yet, far from being a heavy album, Escaper – made with producer John Congleton (a regular co-conspirator with many of her musical heroes) – bubbles with life, taking elements of Kinsley’s classical training and leftfield self-production and combining them in ways that nod to artists such as Mitski. Recent single Realms is as orchestral and widescreen as it gets, while Beautiful Things is a tender piano ballad. Both are sides to Kinsley that she wears well.
• Escaper is out now via Verve Forecast/Decca. Sarah Kinsley will tour the UK 10-14 November
