Spellling @ Songbyrd Music House [DC] - 10/13/2022
Spellling at Songbyrd Music House in DC (Photo ©2022 Mauricio Castro)
It’s not often that an art-pop album like The Turning Wheel comes around and enraptures listeners with gorgeous production and captivating vocals/vibrato but take one listen to Chrystia Cabral’s sophomore album and you’ll likely be drawing comparisons too, to the likes of Lingua Ignota, Kate Bush, and even technicolor, epic-scale fantasy flicks and video games. Spellling channels music from another world far from ours and puts it on tape for us to enjoy.
Although Spellling can’t bring an orchestra with her on tour, her seven-piece band translated her fantastical sounds for a captivated audience, one that stood in reverent silence between songs all night. “Boys in School” received a larger-than-life on-stage makeover with thundering drums and guitars that make the original version feel quaint. Although the live version of “Awaken” doesn’t have a string section that makes the album’s version feel so grandiose, the sublime finger-picking, tom drums, and backup harmonies still captivate enough that you can’t turn away. Cabral and company are all smiles and magnetic presences, their passion for these ethereal songs visibly undeniable on stage. Her music is something special in today’s landscape, and her bright star is only getting brighter with each album. As she sang in her closing song of the night, “I live in the future.”
The Turning Wheel is out now through Sacred Bones Records.
Opening for Spellling was DC-area rapper Auto Lola, a forward-thinking rapper who uniquely merges hip-hop with hyper-pop, SOPHIE-like sounds behind his verses. His EP Sonata Faction Presents: Idiomatic is out now through Future Times Records.
