Bright-spots-of-2020 musicians Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor (along with composer/pianist Kelly Moran and composer/producer/drummer Moses Boyd) released a new song on Christmas this year, called “let all the poisons that lurk in the mud seep out”. Kelsey left a major label recently and said about this new track that “…this song also marks an evolution since my departure from a major label, and the work I’ve done between then and now that’s been deconstructing the poisons that ever brought me any kind of doubt as to the power that lies within my artistry and killing it.
The song opens and closes with layers of piano, voice, and strings rising and falling, sonically creating a sense of putting broken pieces back together again. In the middle, there is a beautiful and dare I say hopeful nugget of stretching and swaying percussive joy, perhaps made even more special because of the buttressing on either side by this woven tapestry of sonic and emotional fragmentation. In a year when we have all been so broken in so many ways, this song, which is ultimately about piecing ourselves back together again, is optimistic and exciting in ways I haven’t felt in a very long time.
December 31, 2020