For Camryn Adele Portagallo, the journey from a close-knit Italian American family outside New York City to the wide-open spaces of the Sierra Nevada has brought two very different worlds into conversation. A multi-instrumentalist, singer and vocalist known for introspective lyricism and distinctive songwriting, Portagallo draws on both experiences throughout her latest project, Have A Nice Fall.
Recorded in the foothills of Sequoia Forest at Battle Mountain Sound, the EP represents the latest chapter in a portfolio that dates back to 2023. Across its songs, Portagallo explores identity, memory, heritage and the movement of the soul, creating an expansive sound that remains intimate at its core.
The project opens with its title track, a largely acoustic composition shaped by spare but affecting string lines and a gently rolling banjo motif that brings the song to a close. At the centre of it is Portagallo’s glowing, vulnerable vocal performance, establishing the emotional character of the EP from its first moments.
‘My Time’ and ‘Protector’ sit behind the bookends. The former draws particularly on Portagallo’s Italian heritage, reflected in its guitarwork and climbing vocal melody. ‘Protector’ takes a more intimate route, built around acoustic guitar before gradually reaching a striking climax marked by a triumphant piano motif and raw solo violin.
The EP closes with ‘Song For Water’, a radiant final statement in which Portagallo’s mesmeric vocal is paired with piano and recordings drawn from childhood memories. Conversations with family and haunting church choirs become part of the arrangement, bringing the personal history behind the music directly into the sound itself.
For Portagallo, Have A Nice Fall is ultimately about accepting the contradictions that come with being alive.
“Have A Nice Fall is a memento of living; living in a way is a series of many moments where we ‘fall from grace’ – facing hundreds of endings and beginnings; time that effortlessly slips away; life, limitless in its discovery. I gathered my own curiosities in Have A Nice Fall, the parts of me that are constant reckonings, what I find the most inevitable, special parts of being alive even when they are confusing and uncomfortable. The songs in Have A Nice Fall, ultimately became an emblem of embracing a life and world that is all at once so difficult to understand, yet deeply intuitively known.”
That sense of embracing uncertainty gives the EP its emotional throughline. Rather than attempting to resolve the questions it raises, Portagallo allows them to remain open, finding meaning in the tension between endings and beginnings, the familiar and the unknown.
Her sound is informed by a vintage vocal tradition, while her songwriting remains rooted in a contemporary sense of introspection. The result is music that feels both expansive and deeply personal, reflecting the distance Portagallo has travelled while retaining a connection to the people, places and memories that shaped her.
Have A Nice Fall is the latest and final release in the EP project, bringing together Portagallo’s reflections on identity and the journey of the soul. With performances at Esalen Institute’s Wednesday Night Music Series scheduled for September, she now takes the project beyond the recordings and into live performance.
From the Italian American community outside New York City to the Sierra Nevada, Portagallo’s journey has been defined by movement between worlds. Have A Nice Fall turns that movement into music: a collection concerned with the moments when life changes direction, and with the possibility of finding beauty in the fall itself.
Listen below:
