SPELLLING (aka Chrystia Cabral) has just released her new album of direct, heart-on-sleeve avant-rock anthems, ‘Portrait of My Heart‘ via Sacred Bones. The release comes ahead of her first ever UK headline tour in June.
On Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror, as her lyrics for ‘Portrait of My Heart’ tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something she says is “pointed into my human heart.” The result is the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date, and its immediacy emphasises the essential mutability of Cabral’s practice. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s ‘The Turning Wheel’ to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.
Before undertaking her tour for ‘The Turning Wheel’, Cabral assembled a band including core members Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), and their ongoing collaboration has uncovered new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for ‘Portrait of My Heart’ to her bandmates, named the Mystery School, helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers—The Turning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.
However, ‘Portrait of My Heart’ is also shaped significantly by its guest musicians. The original plan was to have a featured artist on every track; that idea was scrapped when Cabral realized some of the material was too personal to put in someone else’s mouth. But a few key features help shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) sings on ‘Mount Analogue’, the first true duet in the SPELLLING discography. Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral’s original piano demo for ‘Alibi’ into the crunchy, riff-y version that appears on the record, while Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous gives ‘Drain’ its sludgy heft. These parts aren’t just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe.
Ultimately, though, ‘Portrait of My Heart’ is nobody’s record but Cabral’s. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she’s never included in SPELLLING before—her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. “It’s very much an open diary of all those sensations,” she says. There’s a real generosity in that, as listeners may recognise themselves in ‘Portrait of My Heart’ in a way they haven’t on past albums.
‘Portrait of My Heart’ tracklist:
‘Portrait of My Heart’
‘Keep It Alive’
‘Alibi’
‘Waterfall’
‘Destiny Arrives’
‘Ammunition’
‘Mount Analogue’
‘Drain’
‘Satisfaction’
‘Love Ray Eyes’
‘Sometimes’ (My Bloody Valentine cover)
SPELLLING European live dates:
Mon. June 9 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
Tue. June 10 – Manchester, UK @ YES
Wed. June 11 – London, UK @ Village Underground
Thu. June 12 – Brighton, UK @ DUST
Sat. June 14 – Brussels, BE @ Rotonde
Sun. June 15 – Beekse Bergen, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
Mon. June 16 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
Wed. June 18 – Bern, CH @ Dampfzentrale
Fri. June 20 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
Tickets for the Brighton date can be found HERE.
