Katy Kirby - Jerry Spin

"The Texas singer-songwriter makes up for time lost to her evangelical background with a second album of impeccable craft and lyricism."

Let's face it: There's no such thing as “real life”. There is only experience and the negotiations we undertake in order to share it with other people. In her second album, "Blue Raspberry," Katy Kirby, the New York-based songwriter, immerses herself in the intricacies of intimacy and the nuanced experience of her first queer relationship. The album becomes a narrative that unfolds the crescendo and collapse of new love, embracing and savoring every gleaming shard of experience along the way.

Originally hailing from Texas, Kirby's musical journey evolved from her debut album, "Cool Dry Place," to the more refined and confident sound of "Blue Raspberry." The songs on this album delve deep into the exploration of untangling the dichotomy between the authentic and the artificial, capturing the theatricality inherent in the process of falling in and out of love. Kirby fearlessly embraces a lush sonic palette, collaborating with her band to create queer love songs adorned with orchestral gestures, playful lyrics, and a narrative cohesion that weaves throughout the record.

To enhance the lyrical themes of "Blue Raspberry," Kirby collaborated with producers Alberto Sewald and Logan Chung to craft a rich sonic landscape, taking inspiration from albums like Andy Shauf's "The Party" and Lomelda's "Hannah." The album features a lush blend of piano, strings, cello, and playful instrumentation, creating an auditory experience that complements Kirby's exploration of love's complexities.

 "Why wouldn't that be enough?" Kirby sings throughout the album, a question that's never answered and never drops. Every attempt at love strains toward the idea of the real thing, that totalizing force that makes everything around it perfect forever. But if no one ever gets there, why wouldn't the straining itself suffice? Blue Raspberry shivers with the idea that the key to the treasure is itself the treasure -- even if it's plastic, even if its gold coating flakes off at your touch, even if despite all your searching you never find the lock.  

JERRY SPIN

Jerry Spin is the musical alter ego of musician Jeroen De Gussem (Ghent, Belgium), who combines his lifelong passion for story-telling (“spinning” stories) with music. In his lyrics, Jerry explores themes of love, life, loss and memory, exposing his fascination with the human condition, with society, and with the repetitive nature of history.

On his just-released debut EP Beasts, Jerry Spin explored the ‘beastly’ and ‘egocentric’ nature of human kind, resulting in a number of songs where lyrics abound with animal imagery and references to finances and politics. Jerry speaks from the perspective of shrewd businessmen, disappointed door-to-door sellers, greedy loan sharks, and deceitful spin doctors. The first singles from that EP, ‘Offshores’ and ‘Loan Shark’, were immediately picked up by leading national Belgian radio stations and gained favourable press coverage. Another noteworthy feature of Jerry Spin’s music lurks in his visual identity, and in his carefully crafted videoclips.

Jerry Spin’s sound has been compared to that of Father John Misty, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Arcade Fire, and Tame Impala. However, his secret weapon for this EP was perhaps his collaboration with vocalist, pianist, and composer Eline Flintrop, his companion de route, whose clever harmonizing and crystal clear vocals join him on stage to lift the songs to a higher dimension.