Two years after her musical debut, Nashville artist Alyssa Kinn releases “Chase The Sun,” a shimmering new single that will make you want to get up and dance, as well as think about the “suns” that you aim to chase in your own life.
It’s so easy to melt into this song. Kinn’s vocals layer over one another to create a mesh-like sound, swirling and lush. Her voice is soft, and dotted with the gentlest vibrato, similar to Taylor Swift’s in her recent work. The synth-y style of her music is reminiscent of the darker but equally ethereal Broadcast, and with notes of whimsy she echoes the spaced-out indie rock sound of artists like Mac DeMarco and Leah Senior.
“Chase The Sun” is undeniably catchy, the echoey vocal effects paired with a deep 80’s drum sound bringing both past and current styles into the mix. It’s the kind of song you spin around in circles to, until you either fall over, or grab onto something tightly while the world zips around you. It’s free and joyful, and encompasses the push and pull of finding your way which can be both exciting and painful.
Expectation, how it flutters
Turns to sulfur, then into nothing
Growing faster, but fades like caffeine
Feel the pressure, you don’t make it easy
Chasing your dreams comes with a lot of fear, especially when they seem so impossibly big, like the sun shining above you. Kinn sings about the tides of emotion that come and go when chasing something just out of reach.
We’re so close but still so far away
The thing about art and fame and the pursuit of those grand dreams in life is that there will always be a layer of falseness to them. Even if you reach what you once thought of as “successful,” there will likely be a new ladder tempting you to climb it. Chasing the sun is a metaphor for chasing your dreams, but it is also an impossible task.
A tender whisper, we don’t take lightly
Tastes like pavement, disintegrating
On and on we chase the sun
The tides that go the tides that come
Breathing in, breathing out
somewhere in between it now
This doesn’t mean that achieving your dreams are impossible; I don’t believe that for a second. I find though, in Kinn’s lyrics, a fear and a truth that many dreamers face when engaged in that “chase” – that it may never really end.
Despite the many challenges of pursuing a passion, Kinn takes a positive tone with “Chase The Sun” and reminds us that though winding, the journey is art in itself. Being “somewhere in between it” is a beautiful place to be, ever evolving, and restless with the love you have to create something beautiful.
