Contrasting with the vast rock album title track ‘Portrait of My Heart’ and fast-paced punk anthem ‘Alibi’, the new single shows the album’s softer side. On ‘Destiny Arrives’ melancholy guitars hint at No Doubt’s quieter moments, set against rippling synth-lines for a crescendoing prog-epic, connecting the dots between the lavish orchestration of previous album The Turning Wheel and the direct, open-heartedness found elsewhere on forthcoming offering Portrait of My Heart.

Commenting on the track, Cabral comments: “This was the first track written for the album. I love that it is a kind of merging point of the nature of songs on The Turning Wheel with the more punchy and groovy palette of stuff on Portrait of my Heart. I wanted to have some moments on this album like on The Turning Wheel that honor my love of strings and the whimsical, romantic Stevie Wonder ‘Secret Life of Plants’ style synth theatrics. I’m really happy those elements of SPELLLING get to shine on this track. ‘Destiny Arrives’ kind of acts as this sweet moment of purity and optimism amongst the more punchy and aggressive songs on Portrait of My Heart.“

On the accompanying video SPELLLING worked with director Ambar Navarro. “On ‘Destiny Arrives’ I was thinking about courage and how scary it can be to accept change and to follow your true path in life” Cabral says. “In the video we are making these subtle allusions to a werewolf transformation to show this idea of Destiny as being an affliction or curse when you are resistant to your true calling. Embracing the danger of the unknown becomes a euphoric state by the end of the song.”

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On Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror, as her lyrics for Portrait of My Heart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something she says is “pointed into my human heart.” The result is the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date, and its immediacy emphasises the essential mutability of Cabral’s practice. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s ‘The Turning Wheel’ to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.

In what became the genesis for the rest of ‘Portrait of My Heart’, the title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of “I don’t belong here,” is a potent embodiment of the album’s turn toward emotional directness. Once Cabral came up with the main melody, she found herself using the song as a tool to work through the anxiety she sometimes struggles with as a performer: “If this is what I’m supposed to be doing, and that I’ve chosen this life path, why does it cause me so much discomfort all the time?” She continues: “The song conceptually is dealing with the sort of mental torment of being obsessed with making art and it consuming you. Choosing art over everything…over love…over the love of life and dealing with the consequences of this.”

“When the lyrics for the title track came together, it really started to morph everything in this more energetic direction, instead of this more whimsical landscape that I’ve worked with before. It started to become more driven, higher energy, more focused,” Cabral explains. “And I have a big affection for it because of that. I love that it feels like it withstood transformation, which is something I always want to aspire to with things that I make. I want them to have this sense of timelessness. It could exist like this, or like that, or like this, but this is the one for right now.”

The accompanying video was directed by Ambar Navarro and explores the obsession that comes with making art and when you’re deep in the hole of creativity.

Portrait of My Heart:

1. Portrait of My Heart
2. Keep It Alive
3. Alibi
4. Waterfall
5. Destiny Arrives
6. Ammunition
7. Mount Analogue
8. Drain
9. Satisfaction
10. Love Ray Eyes
11. Sometimes (My Bloody Valentine cover)

The post SPELLLING announces new album Portrait Of My Heart and shares the title track & video appeared first on She Makes Music.