Philly pop / indie soul staple Taylor Kelly is back with new music. The Spins, a six-track EP, released July 19, and incorporates gorgeous piano and acoustic sound with dreamy electronics in a complex and vertiginous reflection on mental health.
Kelly brings the vulnerability right out of the gate, opening with 2000s-inspired “Sometimes.” “Sometimes I feel I put myself in situations / Put my lion in a cage no hesitations / I make things harder than they have to be / Why oh why?” she croons. From analyzing intrusive thoughts in “Fit In” to ending with a hopeful energy on the the title track, The Spins is gorgeously raw and all-consuming.
“The Spins is really me being present with myself. It’s me processing the ways OCD had taken over my life with some songs written even before knowing I had the condition,” Kelly said in a recent statement. “It’s a lyrical mouthful alongside very careful attention to detail, with textured sounds like trumpets, strings, a myriad of synths and even sound bites from exposure therapy sessions weaving in and out of the melody. It was important to me to capture all of me and all of my voices. It’s truly me bearing all.”
Listen to The Spins below. On the heels of a Philly release party this past Sunday at Johnny Brenda’s, Taylor Kelly has a run of August tour dates that has her playing Musikfest in Bethlehem next Wednesday, August 7th. Full dates here.