Kiss from the Balcony by Madeline Kenney

For fans of Jockstrap, psych rock, and self-destructive romance, Kiss from the Balcony by Madeline Kenney designs songs just as complex, messy, and beautiful as all your unrequited infatuations. At the confluence of neoclassical, trip hop, traditional folk, and experimental electronica, Kenney’s densely ornamented artistic world consumes us, imitating an unshakable romantic yearning. Stunning musical moments repeat and intertwine with their surroundings, these glittery guitar riffs, crisp field recordings, and swooning synthetic strings playing the role of our persistent, looping thoughts, rehashing the same ten seconds of painfully unclear interaction as our hearts fill in all the empty space with desperate hope. Regardless of where this romance ends, however, nothing else in life will feel like this intense, uncomfortable, sometimes unbearable moment we find ourselves in here. By relishing in the difficulty, by choosing to find the beauty locked in the fray, we make the most of a transformative time of life, stowing the memory in realistic yet vibrant emotional packaging.