For an emotionally thrilling record, it’s one that is so close to reaching it’s emotive peaks. ‘Escaper’ is the debut album that affirms Sarah Kinsley’s presence as a multi-faceted musician, yet lacks a little more melodic variance and flourishes to really throw itself into higher dimensions.
Leading up to her debut album, Sarah Kinsley has proven that she’s able to dive into an adventurous pop swell that has been showcased throughout her past EPs for the past couple of years. Her tendency to go for cinematic chamber pop always sparked due to her skillset not just as a vocalist and a songwriter, but also as a producer and multi-instrumentalist - a set of factors that mostly lends to her compositions to reach those emotional grandeurs that has painted all over her writing. With those EPs bringing more confidence to her as a musician, ‘Escaper’ shows her potential to expand even further.
Within her debut album, there is quite a pivot that Sarah Kinsley steps within. Still retains the richness she has as a performer and her capability to write out immediate hooks as a composer, she also manages to expand upon her range as a multi-instrumentalist alongside other musicians, alongside working with John Congleton towards the overall sound palette that leans a lot more towards 80s synthpop diversions - a diversion that does strike potently as the grooves and the synth keys are immersed with sharp detail. Those characteristics allow the songs to at least shimmer with their presence, such as the soaring string sections of ‘Last Time We Never Meet Again’ that lead to the pulsing grooves alongside the gleaming vocal runs that Sarah Kinsley pulls all over the album, the glossy keys and hammering drums of ‘Sublime’ that envelops with grandeur every time the hook slides into clear view, the rather post-punk sounding rhythm of ‘My Name Is Dancing’ as the rumbling bass lines and glinting synth waves eventually build up to an expansive scale towards the end, the organic piano and acoustic strums that supports the emotive vocals on ‘Barrel Of Love’ that modulates to the crashing drums that give a more powerful edge to the song, the ray of orchestral instrumentation and pulping grooves on ‘Knights’ that progresses into these gloriously sweeping melodic throughlines as the compositions move onwards, the presence of ondes martenot on ‘Starling’ that add some withering edge towards the careening tender melodies, and the bombastic finish of ‘Escaper’ that comes from the clamoring guitars and drums, as well as the heavy swells of pianos, strings, and synths - creating an epic finish that Sarah Kinsley remarkably sells with her voice.
And that emotional swell does come nicely towards the songwriting that Sarah Kinsley presents. All filled with a passionate exuberance that she explores deeply, really embracing the dynamics of love on her sleeves. Whether that be ruminating about the loss of past lovers and friendships and the pain that she accepts and recovers from, the infinite possibilities of romance that will slip into her life, and the immense yearning for that love that she will never stop chasing time and time again. It’s a theme that ends up expansive within a youthful framing that the details touch upon, filled with metaphors of universes, realms, and dreamers to create a bigger-than-life feel to this heartfelt adventure that Sarah Kinsley has always touched upon before.
As much as the overall emotional throughline soars through the writing, the performances, and the melodies, the album is so close to hitting those grand emotions that the overall output doesn’t reach the end point of that peak. Perhaps some of this does come to the melodies, where as much as the grooves are striking and the production has a sharper touch to a lot of the vocals and instruments - besides the blemished mix of ‘Matter’ that sadly smudges the guitar and synths amidst the cleaner drum textures - it does need to have a bit more instrumental variation and melodic extension so there’s more dynamics that effectively leads to those hooks. It does lead to the 80s synthpop pivot feeling like an intriguing detour that doesn’t expand much besides locking into that sonic framework, quite the added layer of frustration as it succeeds on what Sarah Kinsley is aiming to do, yet could’ve gone further so that the overall melodies could exactly match the immense passionate desire the writing is going towards.
But for what it is, ‘Escaper’ still manages to succeed as a debut project that firmly showcases Sarah Kinsley’s immense potential as a fully-fledged musician in her own right as well as exploring beyond sounds that she has touched upon in those past EPs, it’s just that the album just needs some more additions in the melodic department so that the emotions seeping through can leap on a farther distance. Keenly produced, impactfully composed, as well as emotionally sung and written - enough qualities that do make the record shine when it goes for the swings. This escape to another dimension might be close to ascending, but for what it does present in the journey, it’s enthralling enough that’s worth the listen.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Last Time We Meet Again’, ‘Sublime’, ‘My Name Is Dancing’, ‘Barrel Of Love’, ‘Knights’, ‘Starling’, ‘Escaper’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Matter’