With her band, Kelsey Magnuson creates lyric-heavy songs with catchy licks that convey her feelings on making out, growing out of your twenties, and sports as a metaphor for polyamory. Throughout her debut LP, Magnuson draws inspiration from other rock musicians such as Julie Doiron, Haley Heynderickx, and Hannah Mohan (And the Kids).

To celebrate the record, she will also be sharing a music video for the its final single, ‘Coulda Made Out,’ an angsty, lonely-in-love anthem on which Kelsey bares her soul. We have teamed up with Kelsey to premiere the ‘Coulda Made Out’ video here on SMM today. Watch it below.

The track itself plays on the conversations that stay up in your head, tumbling nimbly back and forth between two chords as Robin Caromosino’s bass ties everything together. “Coulda made out with you all night/ But I guess I could settle for a high five/ Get a grip girl you’re not that cool/ Come on Kels obsess about something else,” she sings, a tight self-harmony chasing every word. And when she insists she should just laugh all this self-doubt away, the forced melodic laughter sinks in like an all-too familiar knife.

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‘Anna’s Song’ exhibits waves of Magnuson’s bronzy guitar brushing up against shimmering cymbals and limber bass. “And when it clears/I know that she’ll be there/When it clears/I hope she knows I’ll be there,” Magnuson sings, before adding a caveat: “And even if I’m not/We’ll still be laughing at the things we should not.” That playful bounce between open-hearted and self-sacrificing detail recalls one of the biggest touchstones for Don’t Budge, Julie Doiron (of Eric’s Trip), and Magnuson’s real-life inspiration, Omaha musician Anna McClellan.

“I was so drawn to her range of sound, from plucky guitar songs to heavier riffs, and how it flowed so well through one album,” Magnuson explains, again needing to share another heartfelt detail. “But I’d also be a phony if I didn’t mention my real life inspo from idea man-confidant-and total lyrical genius Anna McClellan.”

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With her band, Kelsey Magnuson creates lyric-heavy songs with catchy licks that convey her feelings on making out, growing out of your twenties, and sports as a metaphor for polyamory. Throughout her debut LP, Magnuson draws inspiration from other femme rock musicians such as Julie Doiron, Haley Heynderickx, and Hannah Mohan (And the Kids).

The chugging energy and blithe delivery of opener ‘Beep Beep’ recalls Courtney Barnett, another singer-songwriter known for the careful balance of droll humor and heartbreak. Paired with the stop-on-a-dime shifts in guitar riffs, Magnuson’s multi-tracked vocals perfectly add to the sense of overthinking. “I can get yeah so distracted/ But my life is just made up of fractions on fractions of fractions on fractions,” she sings, a recursive mental gymnastics that will surely be familiar to many listeners.

Speaking on her new single, Kelsey wrote: “‘Beep Beep’ is a song written in the first months of the pandemic during a slip into a total loss of my sense of time. But the sound (beep!beep!) of a friends watch that went off on the hour every hour was particularly noticeable…how each hour could pass without much happening at all. The days would drag and then all of a sudden pass too quickly-the rhythm and stops in ‘Beep Beep’ echo that specific feeling.”

Don’t Budge:

1. Beep Beep
2. Anna’s Song
3. Don’t Let The Rats
4. Coulda Made It Out
5. Waitress
6. Put Me In Coach
7. This Town Mix
8. Never Been Hurt
9. Faking It

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