On her second album ‘Blue Raspberry’ – out now – the New York-based songwriter Katy Kirby dives headlong into the artifice of intimacy: the glitter smeared across eyelid creases, the smiles switched on with an electric buzz, the synthetic rose scent all over someone who’s made herself smell nice just for you. An exegesis of Kirby’s first queer relationship, ’Blue Raspberry’ traces the crescendo and collapse of new love, savoring each gleaming shard of rock candy and broken glass along the way.
Reaching high levels of critical acclaim before it was even released, ‘Blue Raspberry’ has been named Stereogum’s Album of the Week and one of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2024 by Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, BrooklynVegan, The Tennessean and Uproxx, and the tracks ‘Cubic Zirconia’ and ‘Party of the Century’ were included on Best Songs of 2023 lists by Paste and Consequence. Listen to it in full here: https://katykirby.ffm.to/blueraspberry
Many of the songs that make up ’Blue Raspberry’ stemmed from a single page of lyrical fragments, words and phrases that kept their hold on Kirby even as she slipped them into multiple settings. Images repeat on different songs throughout the album: cubic zirconia gleaming at a woman’s throat, the lab-grown substitute indistinguishable from earth-crushed diamonds; salt crystallizing as seawater dries on reddened skin; teeth that shine in a grin and then bite till they bruise. These refrains and reprises lend a tight narrative cohesion to the record, elevating its sharp queries into all the unlikely shapes love takes as it surges through you.
To underscore ‘Blue Raspberry‘s’ lyrical themes, Kirby worked with her band to develop a newly lush sonic palette replete with orchestral gestures arranged by her friend Rowen Merrill. “I felt like I was intending to write love songs for the first time. Once I realized they were queer love songs and celebrating artificiality, I wanted them to sound like they were bidding for a spot in the wedding reception canon,” she says. “It was more fun to just go for it than to try to restrain ourselves. Especially if we were just accepting the fact that we were trying to make objectively beautiful music, whatever that means.”
Katy Kirby – “Party of the Century” (Lyric Video)
Early Praise for ‘Blue Raspberry’
“ ‘Blue Raspberry’ couldn’t get here any sooner; it’s going to be the party of the century indeed.” – Uproxx
“ “Table” mixes intimate storytelling with bold, fuzzy electric guitar-driven accompaniment.” – American Songwriter
“ “Cubic Zirconia” is a gorgeous and endearing slice of indie-rock heaven, and it espouses the accouterments and aesthetic choices of a fresh love interest.” – The Hard Times
“Katy Kirby is on another level right now … “Party of the Century” is pensive and sublime and harmonic, as the largely acoustic arrangement—packed with violin and folkloric percussion—establishes itself, immediately, as one of the best Kirby has ever proctored.” – Paste
“Katy Kirby is one hell of a writer, and she lets that talent take hold on “Hand To Hand,” a bleary, intimate shuffle of a song that burbles with discontent.” – Stereogum, The 5 Best Songs Of The Week
“Unflinching and far-reaching… Katy’s quiet confidence radiates throughout” – Dork
“Katy’s second is more cosmopolitan than 2021’s Cool Dry Place… polished indie folk” – Uncut, 8/10
‘Blue Raspberry’
1. Redemption Arc
2. Fences
3. Cubic Zirconia
4. Hand to Hand
5. Wait Listen
6. Drop Dead
7. Party of the Century
8. Alexandria
9. Salt Crystal
10. Blue Raspberry
11. Table
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