Sarah Kinsley, talk about her new EP “Fleeting”
By Xochil
Sarah Kinsley grew up in Mountain View California, she is Chinese American born in the year 2000 and is now a New York based musician. I believe her first song to gain traction (or the first that I found at least) was “The King” in 2021 and then her EP “Ascension” also gained attention which was very much deserved. “The King” EP was inspired by her turning twenty years old feeling like she had to give up the safety net that came with being nineteen and gain the seriousness people gave being in your “20’s”, cause when you’re nineteen you’re still a teen and you can be a little childish and ignore the world a bit but twenty is when you're supposed to be “alive” and find who you’re “meant to be”. Her first album, “Escaper” came out in 2024 which she described as an “Odyssey through grief and using other universes as a means to escape and to survive”. This new ep is said to be about the beauty of impermanence.
She really stands out as an artist because her music is something angelic and full of meaning and intimacy.
My question to Sarah stemmed from my personal music experience. From a former band kid who made some of their most important friendships in class goofing around.
How do you feel music and orchestra influenced your friendships now and growing up?
“Oh yeah If you’re a band-orchestra kid I feel like there was this feeling of being so ashamed of what you did, but also being like yeah we’re apart of something incredible and also being really competitive with your friends because you were kinda supposed to be working together but also pit against each other at least in orchestra I totally felt that way. I think it influenced me in the sense that like you just learn from a really young age how to be a part of something and you understand you have this sort of community that understands your trauma of learning an instrument and understands what it takes. I think when you have friendships later in life too, the best friendships are ones where you have that inner language and inner understanding where you don't have to overexplain this part of your history or about your life. I find that my closest friends; obviously were not exactly the same we do very different things but we've come from a very similar place y'know like we've had very similar backgrounds we've experienced life in a similar way it always us to have an understanding that doesn't have to be said I guess or spoken when you talk about our past stories or whatever it may be, yeah orchestra definitely kinda scarred me in that way for better or for worst.”
I really loved her response because it was very much real, when you're in band class or orchestra you genuinely feel like you're part of a community, you’re all playing music together and it’s all fun but also challenging cause you are always learning something new. When you gain new friends in that environment it's a whole new meaning of friendship that stays with you (or that’s how it was for me). Overall give Sarah Kinsley a listen, you will not regret it!
