{"id":4237,"date":"2025-04-09T15:20:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/?p=4237"},"modified":"2025-04-10T18:26:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T18:26:37","slug":"spellling-paints-a-portrait-of-her-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/spellling-paints-a-portrait-of-her-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"SPELLLING Paints a Portrait of Her Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81OTg0MjgzMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc3MzA0NzY2NX0.uvy3RdISTYG155CdHKmTgXOE3M3z-Y7t92VT2QrhyQc\/img.jpg?width=3106&amp;height=3065&amp;coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0\"><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/spellling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SPELLING<\/a>\u2019s music isn\u2019t for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span>The Oakland-based artist found wider notoriety through her epic, cross-genre breakout, 2021\u2019s <em><em>The Turning Wheel<\/em><\/em>. Whimsical yet heart-heavy \u2014 symphonic yet meticulously detailed, the album created the rare kind of lightning-in-a-bottle moment that allows a member of music\u2019s experimental outskirts to reach a wider audience. After being hailed by <em>Pitchfork<\/em> and given an exceptional 10\/10 review by The Needle Drop\u2019s Anthony Fantano, SPELLLING (Chrystia Cabral) found herself in a surprising sort of rocket ship, but there was a cost to her new elevation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had an identity crisis when I became a full-time artist\/musician,\u201d Cabral tells <em><em>PAPER<\/em><\/em>. \u201cIt made me confront all kinds of weird things about myself as a woman, as someone who is in their 30s &#8230;\u201d She briefly wanders off, and then: \u201cI thought I had gotten over all that stuff. I know who I am. I&#8217;m confident, but having this big life path-turn made me confront everything.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The urgency of that confrontation led to a greater directness in her musical approach. Whereas <em><em>The Turning Wheel<\/em><\/em> features songs like the lush, brass and string-laden opener \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yACWrKIKeMs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Little Deer<\/u><\/a>\u201d or the rollicking, seven-minute synth opera \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rdf62fcwmeA\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Boys at School<\/u><\/a>,\u201d her new project, <em><em>Portrait of My Heart<\/em><\/em> is comparatively straightforward. \u201cI was in mad scientist mode and so absorbed,&#8221; she says of making <em><em>The Turning Wheel.<\/em><\/em> &#8220;It was fun, but it was very different from <em><em>Portrait of My Heart<\/em><\/em>, where I tried to simplify and streamline.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"rm-shortcode\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"2837ed33f0186e60b65413af702cdfac\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%\"><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SPELLLING - Destiny Arrives (Official Video)\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sEqrOuYakGg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Given her tendency to \u201cthrow genres out the window,\u201d Cabral almost surprised herself when she began to work on <em><em>Portrait of My Heart <\/em><\/em>and<em> <\/em>zeroed in on a \u201crock palette.\u201d \u201cThat helped me to simplify a little bit,\u201d she shares. \u201cI&#8217;m not going to go looking for a bassoon or a whole symphonic background for this stuff. I just gotta get the guitars right. I gotta make the tones right and that&#8217;s kind of it, but it was still complicated in its own way,\u201d she adds. \u201cI think of this album and I&#8217;m like, <em>Oh<\/em><em><em>, it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s the closest I&#8217;ve flirted with something that feels more accessible or mainstream. <\/em><\/em>But even then, I&#8217;ll listen back and be like, <em><em>Oh, it&#8217;s still weird. It\u2019s still through the SPELLLING lens.<\/em><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VlUpWPRgaOI\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>The title track<\/u><\/a>, which doubles as the album opener and lead single, is centered around a chorus that is almost mantra-like. \u201cI don\u2019t belong here,\u201d Cabral sings, her voice soaring over a dense world of guitar, strings and drums. The simplicity of the line, speaks to the emotional immediacy she\u2019s moving towards throughout the album. \u201cWith previous work, I deal with romance, but it&#8217;s on this cosmic scale. I&#8217;m talking about it in a universal sense. This is more about my own heart and my own situations with heartbreak,\u201d says Cabral. \u201cI just let myself go, and it feels really vulnerable, but also fun at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, standout tracks like \u201cAlibi,\u201d move around a central line that speaks to this openess. \u201cAnd I don&#8217;t take it back\/ Yeah I won&#8217;t take it back,\u201d she sings in a loop as she runs towards a crescendo: \u201cYeah I won&#8217;t take you back this time\/ Caught up in your alibi.\u201d Other songs, such as the mythically titled \u201cDestiny Arrives,\u201d have nods to her previous work\u2019s \u201ccosmic scale,\u201d but still engage in emotional minutia of heartbreak, while album closer, \u201cSometimes,\u201d closes this loop, turning the smallness of pain into something huge: \u201cTurn my head, into sound\/ I don\u2019t know, when I lay down on the ground,\u201d she belts, floating atop a sea of guitars and a cresting tide of synths.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" class=\"rm-shortcode lazyload\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"fac019a5941faa2a65656f70c70bcc97\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" id=\"86247\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img-53.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>A different creative process led to this different outcome. She wrote demos for <em><em>Portrait of My Heart <\/em><\/em>on her piano, which she would then bring to her band to \u201cjam on it and see what happens.\u201d Her band \u2014 composed of Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass) \u2014 added new layers and possibilities. Their bond was already strong from touring and recording <em><em>SPELLLING &amp; The Mystery School<\/em><\/em>, an album of new interpretations of old SPELLLING songs, but it was made all the stronger through this album\u2019s boundless exploration. She even brought in outside friends to play like Braxton Marcellous from the band Zulu, Pat Mccrory from Turnstile and the bay area&#8217;s own Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi). Cabral, through trust and instinct, could let go of the overwhelming burden of her lone wolf wizardry and lean into kinetic collaboration to craft this record.<\/p>\n<p>Processing her life\u2019s whirlwind transformation through <em><em>Portrait of My Heart <\/em><\/em>has helped Cabral confront feelings that feel as vast as her music, but that doesn\u2019t mean her life as a touring artist doesn\u2019t still weigh on her life and relationships. \u201cWhat I&#8217;m doing now requires a lot of sacrifice,\u201d she shares. \u201cI&#8217;m having to be away from my partnerships or my friendships and my family. It drains a lot of my creative energy and attention. I was questioning things I thought were obvious, like what it means to be in love with someone. How does that endure or change when your circumstances change a lot?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a profound question \u2014 one that is relevant to all of us, no matter if you\u2019re a touring musician or not. But SPELLLING, like any artist, doesn\u2019t come up with a clear answer. Rather her work provokes more questions. This album, after all, isn\u2019t a study, but a portrait \u2014 an interpretation of a person at a time and place. It\u2019s an exploration of a heart \u2014 one that is breaking, beating, breathing life into the entire body. It feels good to be alive, and to feel feelings that are grand as a soaring hook.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" class=\"rm-shortcode lazyload\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"d84733c589ffb3341350f2887be1a8a6\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" id=\"6ae6c\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img-54.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><em>Photography: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/saraheiseman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarah Eiseman<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/piscesdreams\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephanie Pia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPELLING\u2019s music isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. The Oakland-based artist found wider notoriety through her epic, cross-genre breakout, 2021\u2019s The Turning Wheel. Whimsical yet heart-heavy \u2014 symphonic yet meticulously detailed, the album created the rare kind of lightning-in-a-bottle moment that allows a member of music\u2019s experimental outskirts to reach a wider audience. After being hailed by Pitchfork and given an exceptional 10\/10 review by The Needle Drop\u2019s Anthony Fantano, SPELLLING (Chrystia Cabral) found herself in a surprising sort of &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/spellling-paints-a-portrait-of-her-heart\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;SPELLLING Paints a Portrait of Her Heart&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4243,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237\/revisions\/4243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}