You never know where interest can come from when you put your music out there. The Nashville-based Ryan Kaiser knows a thing or two about that; ‘YKWIM?’ was originally found on his Bipolar EP – released in 2019 under the Yot Club moniker – but the song found a new life on TikTok earlier this year, putting eyes and ears on Kaiser’s evocative bedroom pop. He is, however, staying the course and continuing to work with Bordeaux-based label Nice Guys; and about that…
We’re premiering the video for the lead single off Kaiser’s next project; namely, a sublime six-song EP called Santolina. ‘Alive’ is practically dripping with melancholy in spite of its breezy, feather-light sound. It’s part of a collection that attempts to map the terrifying, carefully-manicured haze of American suburbia – inspired by Kaiser’s Jackson, Mississippi-based childhood: “The suburbs are a shitty place to be from, but they’re not at the same time. I was fortunate to be from a place where kids were playing baseball in the streets and building clubs in the woods, but as you get older, you gain a bleaker perspective on everything. That’s the whole vibe of the EP really.”
That sense of push and pull is exemplified by the song’s opening line: “Straight lines, cul-de-sacs, white flowers and the TK/Bring back memories you’d rather just leave dead.” Tune in below, and keep an ear out for the new EP, arriving in January. For all Kaiser knows, the new song might just blow up too…
