Photo by Nedda Afsari
Three years of soul searching, songwriting, and self-discovery has taken SRSQ’s Kennedy Ashlyn down a complex path. Finally, she is unleashing her magnificent sophomore LP, Ever Crashing. Ashlyn’s private struggles and sorrows are woven into stirring anthems, including the dazzling single “Saved for Summer”.
“This song echoes the yearning to escape a depressive miasma, the desperate desire to stop watching life through a window,” Ashlyn reveals. “The video takes place in the psychedelic haze of isolation and stagnation, of being suspended in the grasp of a downward spiral, longing for liberation. At its core burns a tepid hope that ‘real’ life remains within reach.”
The self-directed video, created in collaboration with cinematographer Leigh Violet (Visage Irregular) is a surreal performance placing SRSQ on a leopard print sofa by the ocean; there are elements recalling David Byrne floating in a digital hyperspace in “Once In A Lifetime”
Watch below:
After being diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder, Ashlyn underwent a profound personal overhaul. These periods of turmoil operated as a muse. “Songs begin to echo within me, gradually reverberating clearer and more vividly,” she says. “As melodies and arrangements come into focus, the songs act like containers, vessels in which to externalize and exorcise tumultuous emotions.”
Her new album, Ever Crashing refers to Ashlyn’s recurring sensation of being trapped in the crest of a wave, turned and churned in the surf, mirroring the cycles of self-flagellation and surrender that she battles being bipolar. Music becomes, instead, a form of energetic transmutation and exquisite catharsis. Ashlyn’s remarkable vocals, hovering somewhere in the ether between Kate Bush and The Sundays, takes these emotions and crafts intense, stirring dream pop.
Ever Crashing. produced by the immensely talented Chris Coady (Beach House, Xeno & Oaklander, Slowdive, Zola Jesus) comes out August 19th via Dais Records on vinyl and across all digital platforms.
SRSQ is touring Europe this Summer with RIKI and plans to tour North America later in the year, stay tuned for updates.
Featured photo by Nedda Afsari
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Featured photo by Nedda Afsari
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