Sunday, June 2, 2019

June 3 - Kelsey Lu

This is going to be a busy week at work. Today would have been super slow, actually, but I set up a bunch of planning meetings because we're moving to a new office very soon. Which means it turned out to be very busy, and it's now almost time to go home and I've finally got some free time to sit down and think about writing. But that also means I don't have, and won't have, time to write about the rest of the trip with my parents before next week. But that's ok, I want to write about it, so I'll definitely find the time.

But today I have to share Kelsey Lu with you. So this woman has been making music for a few years now. She came onto my radar big time with the release of her single Due West last year, which is an amazing song. And that is the first song you get to listen to today. I'm honestly surprised it wasn't on my blog last year, but now I'll make up for it.





So good, right? I can't even tell you how many times I've listened to that song. That's the first single off of her new album, Blood, but when it came out nobody knew what or when the album was about. It was just a single. So I went back and listened to her Church EP from 2016, which was the only available music at the time. And I wasn't so impressed. It was a bit esoteric for me. I just didn't get it. But I was very excited about hearing Blood when it finally came out. And it has been something of a grower. But grown to the point where it is one of my favorite albums of the year, and I find myself going back to listen to it and wanting to listen to it more than any other album so far this year. If I haven't heard it for a couple of weeks, I just get an urge to. That's a good sign.I'd say she's definitely my favorite "new" artist this year, or at least it's my favorite debut album this year, and will definitely be in my top 10.

She's also got a crazy story, which in short boils down to being raised super conservative in North Carolina, but growing up making music (specifically the cello, which is her first instrument, but she's taught herself much more) then running away and becoming a stripper and making her own music and eventually getting to LA and getting a record deal. In a nutshell. And she is now one of the performers at Vivid Sydney, and I went to her concert last night. And it is probably one of the best shows I've been to. I would put her up in my top 5 concerts for sure. She was incredible. The best song of the night was the opener, Dreams, which, incidentally is off of Church. An EP which I now looooooooooooooooove. So much love for it. After getting really into Blood I went back to listen more and now I get it. Now I love it. It's incredible. She's incredible.

So she started the show by walking out in the dark among the audience (it was in a small room), before getting on stage and spending the next 10+ minutes by herself building up this song. The recorded version is only like 8 minutes, so we got the extended cut. And I could have kept listening. It nearly brought me to tears. Her voice is incredible, her music is incredible, her theatrics are incredible. Seriously if you have the chance, go see her. Do not miss this woman.

And now, Dreams.


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