Based in the bustling singer-songwriter scene in Northwest Philadelphia, Kristin Daelyn is a composer of reflective, resonant songs about longing and love. She’s been active for the past five years, releasing music both under the project name Delv, as well as her own name. Her introspective songwriting is based around nimble fingerstyle guitar playing and adds to a lineage of like-minded folk artists from Meg Baird to Vashti Bunyan to Joan Baez.
A native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Daelyn spent some time on the west coast before returning to Philly. She recorded her most recent project, last year’s Into The Quarry, with Danny Black, aka Dan Schwartz of Good Old War; the two are collaborating again on a new EP that’s due out later this year. We hear two brand new songs from that project in this performance Daelyn recorded for The Key Studio Sessions: the reflective “Longing,” which gorgeously recalls Jackson Browne’s “These Days,” and “An Opening,” a swift swirl of waltz tempo and swiftly-plucked guitar strings. As we listened to a playback of the latter song in the control room, Daelyn began spontaneously harmonizing with her own voice (a definite Key Sessions first) hinting at more built-out arrangements of the new songs she’s releasing this year.
Thing is, even in their most solitary form — guitar and voice — Daelyn’s music is stunning, and we also in this set hear the song that first got her on WXPN’s radar, “You Love Me Anyway,” as well as the opening “Patience Comes To The Bones” from Into The Quarry. Watch Kristin Daelyn’s Key Studio Session in full below, and catch her playing live around town this winter; she’ll be at Bridgeset Sound in South Philadelphia on Saturday, January 20th, followed by a show at World Cafe Live’s Lounge on March 7th with Advance Base; details can be found at WXPN’s Concerts and Events page.