SPELLING is back with her new single ‘Alibi‘ a kick ass punchy anthem for those who want to tell their ex to go fuck themselves this Valentine’s day. Inspired by the hooky, yet angst-laden 90s sounds of Liz Phair, No Doubt and Green Day. With giddy riffing provided by Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory and perky percussion, heightened by a fantastically elastic vocal that smiles sweetly but has a glint in the eye as she sings “I won’t take you back this time”, SPELLING aka Chrystia Cabral emphatically makes it her own with a earworm that will be stuck in your head all day! Listen below.
It’s lifted from SPELLING’s forthcoming album ‘Portrait of My Heart’, out March 28th via Sacred Bones, she recently announced UK and mainland European headline dates this Summer
“On Alibi I’m tapping into the almost kind of comedic and hysteric relief that kicks in when you make it out of the other side of a toxic relationship. Once the spell is broken and clarity restores good sense there’s just this buoyancy to life that lets you laugh at the absurdities” Cabral comments. “This is one of those songs that sprung up on me out of nowhere in a super bold and in my face way. Sometimes I like to deliberately withhold recording ideas to make sure that it’s contagious enough to stick in just my memory. This is one that stuck for so long to the point that I was like yes, let me follow through with it and see what I can do.”
She adds: “I’m a huge fan of Liz Phair and I let myself channel her very candid and penetratingly plainstated approach to lyricism. This song definitely unlocked this angsty side of myself that was very cathartic and fun to release.”
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.
SPELLLING will be playing her first UK headline tour later this year, before heading into mainland Europe. Dates are:
JUNE
9 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
10 – Manchester, UK @ YES
11 – London, UK @ Village Underground
12 – Brighton, UK @ DUST
15 – Beekse Bergen, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
16 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
18 – Bern, CH @ Dampfzentrale
20 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
Photo credit: Sarah Eiseman
