INTERVIEW: SARAH KINSLEY

Photo Credit: Julia Khoroshilov

Interview by Isabelle Ireland

I spoke with Sarah Kinsley ahead of her Boston show on her “The Escaper Tour.” “Escaper” is her first album, which she released on September 6th of this year. Kinsley rose to stardom in 2019 after she released “The King,” and she is very excited to be touring now that COVID is finally over. 

Isabelle Ireland (II): When did you know you wanted to be a singer? 

Sarah Kinsley (SK): I have memories of dreaming of being a singer and trying to imagine a way that I could make that happen. I was pretty much a classical pianist or classical violinist for the first 15 to 17 years of my life, and I just thought that was going to be my life and I was going to get a job after college maybe in music maybe not, but I had like a lot of hope of becoming a singer. I didn’t think it was possible, I feel like I kind of like harbored those dreams probably from the age of 13 when I started writing songs, and it was a very small dream at that point, I was very unsure, and very doubtful that it could happen. 

II: That’s so cool that you have been thinking about it and that you chased after that dream. So, you started writing when you were 13, when did you start thinking that want to start producing and making music? 

SK: When I went to college I was finally in a completely different environment where people were doing it and not just thinking about writing music, people were doing shows and performing constantly there was so much music in New York in general, and just living in a city.  

II: You were at Columbia University, right? 

SK: I was, it was just completely different than anything I’ve ever known, and I started taking production classes and trying to figure that stuff out mostly because the first few songs I ever worked on were half-released. I was a vocalist on other people’s music, and I was jealous they knew how the song came together, and I selfishly wanted to be a part of that process. It had been a dream that was festering for a pretty long time and then suddenly I was in college, and I was really into learning about software and like um just different ways of making music with my voice and other instruments and I realized that production was like a real key to me creating myself as a performer and my project. 

II: yeah, that’s so cool! So you worked as a vocalist for a little bit for some people, were any of them your inspiration, or who was your greatest inspiration for your music? 

SK: No, I wasn’t working with people that were the dream it was just the very beginning and I was recording vocals in like my bedroom to send to them and one of them was someone I had gone to school with and a friend of mine was like “this guy is making music under this name he’s like a lo-fi producer you should totally work together and we made this really kind of fun lo-fi electronic track that he produced and I just sang on and I did that for a French producer as well and that was in 2019 before I made my own music. I don’t regret either of those things but it’s a weird document of before I knew what I wanted out of music so I do feel a bit funny about the music, but it was sort of before all of that and I feel like my music doesn’t exist in that sphere of lo-fi house music though it’s a cool genre. I feel like I was way more inspired by a lot of different artists from the ‘80s and ’90s, indie artists, rock artists, and bands more psychedelic, ethereal, kind of strange indie pop.  

II: I would describe your music as ethereal. 

SK: Thank you. Just older music, and stuff from the early 2000s as well, very different than what I first worked on. 

II: What made you want to learn new instruments during college or just in general because I saw in one of your Tiktoks you were playing some kind of tapping drumming thing, what made you want to experiment with that? 

SK: I’ve just always been someone who just has a real curiosity for that stuff. I was an instrumentalist before I was anything in music so I feel a natural relationship with instruments in a lot more ways than I do with my voice, and I always wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn violin after piano and after violin, I was curious about guitar and I just sort of enjoyed bouncing between all of them and that led to playing a bunch of instruments on the record as well. 

II: That’s incredible, such a talent. I’m sure you get this a lot but how did you feel when “The King” went viral? 

SK: It was a very incredible moment in my life, and it was awesome and overwhelming and not what I expected at all from my music. It’s given me the chance to tour as I’m doing right now and getting to make an album and hopefully more. I see it as a gateway to a lot of what has happened in my life. I feel a lot of complex things around it but for the most part, I’m very grateful that it happened. 

II: Yeah! It’s so awesome, I remember listening to it when it first came out and now listening to your album, I’m obsessed with it and have not stopped playing it. Are you happy that you studied music in college? Has it helped in the industry? Was it necessary or do you regret it at all? 

SK: It depends. I don’t think you need to go to college to be a musician. I feel a lot of honor and privilege that I got to have a music education for my entire life. It’s a really lucky thing but I don’t think being in music requires it. I was interested in the academic side of music and music theory and music production so that benefitted me but unless you are in a performance program, at least the school I went to, had nothing to do with contemporary music and I had to seek out music that was on the edges of this interesting scene and of this contemporary music and I had a lot of professors who were experimental artists themselves and were sound artists, but that program was really small in school and I mostly feel like I was defined by the people I was around, less of the university but it was just part of the campus and being there. Music education is a weird thing because on one hand, it is limiting, and they teach you a very specific curriculum of music and a specific history that only encompasses very little of what music is. We barely talked about stuff past the 1980’s or the 90’s which is crazy, and a lot of my education was based on old music theory and things that have not changed in years which I think can be frustrating and strange considering music landscapes shift so quickly. I would probably say I’m super grateful, it was good to critique at times and realize the actual making of music is different than studying it. 

II: It’s interesting to understand that contrast, especially as an artist doing it in the real world. What is your favorite song on your album? 

SK: I don’t know, I feel like I’m choosing a favorite child. It’s an intense process and I put a lot of myself into my music. Right now, from touring it’s been fun to play “My Name is Dancing” and “Escaper” the title track, those two have been awesome. 

II: How has been performing been, tiring? 

SK: No! it’s been really fun, really incredible, I love touring and shows especially because my career began during COVID I’m excited to be here and participate in live music in this kind of way and the people that come to shows are just so incredible, and really excited and just very high energy, so it’s just been amazing so far. 

II: That’s awesome, what does music mean to you and what do you want your music to do for others? 

SK: I think at least between me and other people, I feel very honored when I hear stories about people saying “I share this song with this person in my life” or “it reminds me of when I was this age”, or people associate memories with the songs and music and that’s all I want to do with my music is to have it be this soundtrack to life, that’s like the biggest dream of mine that has already been filled in a lot of ways and I want to keep doing that honestly. In terms of what music means to me it has always been the truth and the way to express myself most truthfully. I think language is so limiting sometimes because you are choosing specific words to say like right now the meaning of what I’m trying to express is sort of dampened and diffused through language but through music, it is completely different through melodies and chords and with all of that it becomes more clear and truer. I make music to get closer to that but also to outwardly express that and share it with people, they sort of work together in a funny way. 

II: That was beautifully said I must say even though it is hard to say how you are feeling you have a very beautiful vocabulary. How does it feel being on VEVO’s artist-to-watch list of this year?  

SK: It’s very cool! It was a fun shoot we did for that campaign, and it was awesome to be acknowledged in that way. We got to record two cool versions of two songs off an EP I made so it was cool. 

II: Is there any particular moment you think about when you are writing your music? Or someone in your life who inspires your music? 

SK: Like during the process of writing songs? 

II: Yes. 

SK: It depends on what the song is about. I’m always writing based on things that are happening in my life. Any song is based on people, friends, family, lovers, whatever, past experiences, or moments, it just depends on what I choose to write about. 

II: I’ve been seeing you using a contact mic, why is it that you love the mic and how does it transform your music? 

SK: It’s a cool instrument and a cool tool. It conjures up an innate sound because it’s very siren-like. It reminds me of the wind almost, so it has a strange effect of really putting you in this ambiance. It’s really calming and can be a bit haunting too and I’ve always been curious about how to manipulate the voice and change the way that you sound through these effects. The contact mic allows you to do it with your hands right in front of you. It’s a lot of fun to play with honestly. 

II: It looks like so much fun to use and what it creates is insane. Like you said the siren-like is very true and I love the effect it has.  Who were your top 3 artists this past year? 

SK: I don’t know from my Spotify wrapped. It was “Lorraine” this artist from Brooklyn I love and probably “The Cocteau Twins” were up there as well, they have been like my all-time favorite band for years now. Honestly, I can’t remember but I would probably say “Nabihah Iqbal”. She’s like this British artist who makes cool, if I had to put it in a genre, I would say indie almost like this weird electronic rock, but she reminds me a lot of “The Talking Heads” which I think is why I like her so much.  

II: I have to look out for them and see if they are in Boston soon. If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why? 

SK: I recently met “SASAMI” at one of my shows and I’m so obsessed with her music, and I would say her. Or maybe like “Grimes”. 

II: Do you think you would ever write music in a different kind of genre? 

SK: Hopefully, that’s the goal. I find it hard to pin down in the moment like this song is in this genre. It’s something that happens retroactively or is something that occurs but that is the goal musically to traverse through a bunch of different musical territories. 

II: I’m interested to see what a Sarah Kinsley country album would sound like. 

SK: I probably won’t do that but maybe one day [laughs]. 

II: How long and what was the experience like shooting the new “Knights” music video? 

SK: It was fast, it was very run and gun. It took us less than 5 hours. We went to the beach really early and shot the video. 

II: It must have been really early if you are waking up for sunrise! What song are you most proud of? 

SK: I’m very proud of “Beautiful Things” and “Starling”. I’m very proud of all of them. “Starling” was one of the last songs I wrote for the album, and it was a really sweet song to write and finish and create in general just to pay homage to my close friends. I’m very proud of that one.  

II: What is your favorite memory since being an artist and on tour? 

SK: This tour has given me so many great memories. I played in Austin last night and a cricket fully landed on me during the set, and it was really funny. It was a very silly show, and I got to meet some really sweet people after the show. I remember a few years ago the first show I played in Chicago, the first person I had ever seen with a song tattooed came to a show and just showed me after the set and it was incredible. 

II: Is there anything we should be looking out for in the next year or anything you are looking forward to for your career? 

SK: I’m excited to continue touring. I’m going to be on the road for another few weeks then we are going to Europe and the UK so I’m very excited to bring this show to so many cities and to get to do this. I feel a lot of love in that direction. 

II: Well, that’s all I have for you today, I’m excited to see you in Boston soon. Thank you for letting me interview you! 

SK: Thank you for your sweet questions and for having me!

II: Yes! I’m excited to keep listening and watch you evolve, you are amazing. 

SK: Thank you! 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.