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Today, the much-anticipated debut album from breakout artist Sarah Kinsley, Escaper, is released via Verve Forecast/Decca/Universal Music Canada. Listen/share HERE.  

“Escaper is a 40-minute epic of the journeys we take to find ourselves again,” Kinsley details. “It is a story dedicated to the spiral of how we use alternate realms and faraway places to escape grief, to not let pain find us. Portals to other places allow us to become anything, anyone. This album is the symbol for choosing the real and the imaginary—returning to a world of flaws and emotion as a means of moving forward. Escaper is my attempt to offer the only way I know how to make sense of my life in its smallness and great entirety—through music.”

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Leading up to the release, Kinsley has shared “Realms,” “Starling” and “Last Time We Never Meet Again” from the LP. Of new single “Knights,” she describes the song as “a ballad that explodes with anger, force, and inexplicable emotion. It is a song geared towards the dangers of chivalry; it is the power of the feminine striking through song. We are raising a glass to the nights we wish to forget, and the young girls within that we inevitably reach back for…”

Kinsley is gearing up to embark on a headline tour across North America, the U.K. and Europe in support of the new music, kicking off September 15 and including stops at New York City’s Webster Hall, two sold out evenings at Los Angeles’ Troubadour and more. See below for a complete list of dates. Tickets and more info HERE.

In celebration of the release, there will be an in-store appearance at Rough Trade Records in New York City later today at 6pm ET.

Fascinated by the idea of alternate realities and imaginary worlds, Escaper finds Kinsley challenging the listener to find their own escape. Across the album’s 12 tracks, written by Kinsley herself, she explores old friendships, loss, romantic love compared to the love of close friends, and relationships fizzling that once flourished.

Kinsley collaborated with and co-produced the album alongside Grammy-award winning producer John Congleton (Angel Olsen, St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten). “One realization you have eventually as an insular, more introspective person is that there’s a world outside of yourself waiting for you to look into it. I had made every single EP from scratch, in the sweetness of my apartment… This record was meant to be grand and unstoppable,” she details.

Growing up in the world of classical music and coming to love pop music in her teenage years, Kinsley often marries the two on Escaper. “I'm just such a sucker for massive, grand songs,” she describes. “I think it’s the classical musician in me who loves symphonies and the magnum opus effect.”

The New York-based artist has released three EPs—The King (2021), Cypress (2022) and Ascension (2023)—to widespread critical praise. The King’s title track went viral on TikTok, accumulating 121 million global streams to date across her catalogue and climbing, and the EP was included in NME’s list of top debut projects of 2021 raving, “Her transformative songs of growing pains and discovery share a similar intimacy to the introverted, deeply human alt-pop of Maggie Rogers and Lorde.”

Ascension received praise from the likes of NPR Music, The Sunday Times, Ones to Watch and more. Kinsley has performed at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and more, as well as opened for the likes of Mitski, Sylvan Esso, Weyes Blood and Gus Dapperton.

TOUR DATES
September 15—Hollywood Theatre—Vancouver, BC
September 16—Neumos—Seattle, WA
September 17—Polaris Hall—Portland, OR (SOLD OUT)
September 19—The Independent—San Francisco, CA (SOLD OUT)
September 20—Troubadour—Los Angeles, CA (SOLD OUT)
September 21—Troubadour—Los Angeles, CA (SOLD OUT)
September 22—Valley Bar—Phoenix, AZ (SOLD OUT)
September 25—House of Blues Cambridge Room—Dallas, TX
September 26—Antone’s Nightclub—Austin, TX (SOLD OUT)
September 29—The Basement East—Nashville, TN
October 1—Thalia Hall—Chicago, IL
October 2—AandR Music Bar—Columbus, OH (SOLD OUT)
October 4—The Loft at Center Stage—Atlanta, GA
October 5—Motorco Music Hall—Durham, NC (SOLD OUT)
October 6—Union Stage—Washington D.C. (SOLD OUT)
October 9—The Great Hall—Toronto, ON (SOLD OUT)
October 10—Theatre Fairmount—Montreal, QC
October 12—Higher Ground Showcase Lounge—South Burlington, VT
October 13—Royale—Boston, MA
October 15—The Foundry—Philadelphia, PA
October 16—Webster Hall—New York, NY
November 8—Whelan’s—Dublin, Ireland
November 10—SWG3—Glasgow, UK
November 11—Band On The Wall—Manchester, UK
November 13—Thekla—Bristol, UK
November 14—Heaven—London, UK
November 18—Melkweg—Amsterdam, Netherlands
November 19—Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld—Cologne, Germany
November 22—Lido—Berlin, Germany
November 23—Cafe v Lese—Prague, Czech Republic
November 25—Strom—Munich, Germany
November 27—La Bellevilloise—Paris, France