Once asked to list her influences during an interview with Paste Magazine, Madeline Kenney responded simply: “ladies doing weird stuff.” Indeed, the Oakland singer-songwriter’s latest album Kiss From the Balcony could be described this way.
During a two-week studio session, Kenny and her collaborators – electronic producer Ben Sloan and guitarist Stephen Patota – collaged scraps and fragments from their respective hard drives. Together, they iterated on these ideas, building out a spacious soundscape traversing moods and textures. Kenney’s wide-ranging vocal performance demonstrates uncanny precision, at times iridescent, and at others defiant. The resulting album resists comparison. If listeners are able to pick up sensibilities reminiscent of artists like Laure Anderson, Kate Bush, or Björk, they are by way of Jenny Hval and Shabason & Krgovich.
Kiss From the Balcony is out today on Carpark Records, and you can see Madeline Kenney live with Suver opening at the Independent on Friday, August 15.
