Spellling - The Turning Wheel:
I've been pondering how to write about this album for a while now; I feel unworthy. It feels like something I shouldn't even be sharing, something so beautiful that it's perhaps best-kept secret. I hope my writing can do this magnificent piece of art justice.
Oakland CA-based Chrystia "Tia" Cabral uses the cleverly misspelled stage name Spellling to paint her experimental-progressive pop music. Self-produced with 31 collaborating musicians, all orchestrated by 30-year-old Tia(An 80's psychedelic Disney princess) to create what can only be called a masterpiece. The Turning Wheel is divided into two parts: Above & Below. Above being the lightheartedness of being, dancing in the warm sun at the brightest time in the day. Below explorers the darker sides of the same feelings, consumed yet emancipated by inner-dimensional existence and experience. This album has a range of deeply layered instruments from piano and guitar to banjo and string quartet and everything in between. The musical flavoring goes from classical show tunes to 80's synth or future pop with a brilliant blend, making each song quite palatable, exciting, and ever revealing. With such heavy themes, top-notch songwriting, instrumentation, and with such a profound concept, this album has broken and warmed my heart with each listen. Without a doubt my favorite album of the year.
When this album first came out in June, I failed to give it my best attention upon first listen and moved on. With a much-appreciated correction from a music muse, I was able to revisit this album in a different headspace, in a different light. Now it has been nearly a month, and I can't stop listening to it, and when I'm not listening, it's banging in my head. To quote my best friend, "Spellling is a magical-yet fragile-soul fairy from another planet desperately pleading for us to save ours…and discovering her identity in the process."