“A delicate, tenderhearted song which feels like the product [of] isolation, stepping out into the world having arrived at newfound truths.” That’s how we described ‘You Loved Me Anyway‘, the previous single from Philadelphia songwriter Kristin Daelyn. Namely, as we continued, “the realisation that imperfect people are still deserving of love, and that accepting such gifts can be an act of kindness of its own.” With fingerstyle guitar and careful, intimate narrative, Daelyn’s music often carries this compassionate tone, attempting to work through life’s difficult moments with patience and sensitivity.
Latest double single Into The Quarry is no exception. A pair of tracks built around Daelyn’s guitar and developed with subtle layers of synths, electric guitar and pedal steel provided by Danny Black. ‘Patience Comes to the Bones’ highlights just how tender the arrangements can be, progressing with a reflective spaciousness which nevertheless glows with some inner warmth too. As though Kristin Daelyn has invited you into a personal space to sit a while, a place quiet and warm, to contemplate that which we have lost and the things we hold still.
‘The Hardest Thing I Carry’ is equally gentle and evocative, aching with the certainty of an ending and the flickering possibility the feeling might be misplaced. “The hardest thing I carry is the hope,” Daelyn sings in the refrain, “that one day it’ll all work out and I don’t have to let go / But I do, I know.” Again the presiding tone is that of mercy and compassion, moving through what might easily prove a painful or spiteful experience with a resounding sympathy for all involved.
Album art by Celia Mason, portrait by Kit Ramsey