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Kinlaw's Stunning Voice Is The Pleasure Center Of 'Drama In The South'

Kinlaw's <em>a trigger for every body</em> comes out June 23.
Landon Speers
/
Courtesy of the artist
Kinlaw's a trigger for every body comes out June 23.

Sarah Kinlaw doesn't just want to play with your senses, she wants to illuminate them. The NYC-based musician and choreographer makes multimedia art that's tangibly, haptically intimate. She described one recent project as "sensorial pop," an equally apt umbrella for her solo debut as Kinlaw, a trigger for every body.

A bass synth mulls deeply in the opening of "drama in the south," with little sounds and soft whispers pinging around this short, but rich, electro-pop song, as Kinlaw ruminates on helpless resignation — "It's just what it is."

In her band SOFTSPOT, Kinlaw's voice carries the narrative with a serenity that knows torment, but here those thrilling swoops and dips of melody are manipulated with echoes and reversals, layered towards an urgent climax. Barely over two minutes, "drama in the south" escalates quickly, but with a gentle guide line.

a trigger for every body comes out June 23 on Soap Library. Kinlaw will perform her new music at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn on June 12, accompanied by the dancers Kathleen Dycaico and Quenton Stuckey.

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