YOUR NEW FAVORITE SONG
KELLEN KENNEDY – “HOW RICH THE BLUE”
Each week we pick one song we think you’ll love as much as we do. This week we’re featuring Kellen Kennedy, a Brooklyn-based songwriter, guitarist, and visual artist whose music is intricate, haunting, and deeply emotive. She blends folk, chamber-choir harmonies, and the melodic spirit of the late sixties and nineties into something that feels both timeless and personal. We talked with her about how this track came to life. PRESS PLAY.
★ WHAT’S THE STORY
“The song was inspired by looking out over the ocean and feeling loss, but also this ultimate sense of gratitude. Almost like seeing beyond the immediate sadness and thanking life for the lesson it’s teaching you. I grew up playing music. I was born in rural Illinois and moved to Colorado pretty young, that’s where I spent most of my formative years. I started classical piano at four and started playing guitar and writing songs around twelve. I’ve also been singing in chamber choir most of my life, which has definitely shaped my music. I’m based in Brooklyn now, have been here about three years, and I recorded this song with Robert L. Smith at his studio downtown.”
★ INFLUENCES
“Mainly songwriters from the seventies and nineties. Linda Perhacs, Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt, Elliott Smith. I also love the Cranberries, and I think vocally I pull a lot of inspiration from Irish singers like Dolores O’Riordan, Elizabeth Fraser, and Sinéad O’Connor. And the Breeders are probably my favorite band of all time. Pod, Parallelograms, and the self-titled albums by Townes Van Zandt and Elliott Smith are ones I always return to.”
★ THE LINES WE LOVED
what joy to have such simple love
to look upon
make wishes of
horizons hold a trace of you
how soft the sun
how rich the blue
★ BONUS TRACK
“The first time I ever sang this song was in a noisy bar during a writer’s group called Sunday Salon. You could barely hear it, almost like a background track for the conversations below. It felt fitting.”
See more from Kellen Kennedy on Instagram here