Sarah Kinsley, courtesy.

Sarah Kinsley thought that maybe after college she would work in the music business, but she didn’t think being a musician full time was in the cards. Then “The King” unexpectedly blew up online in 2021, and that changed everything. Kinsley majored in music theory at Columbia University, and she taught herself music production after she learned how few women worked in the field.

“School was a safe place to experiment and explore music because I had the justification of still being really young and a student, and it was just a hobby,” Kinsley says over a recent video call. “I think that pursuing art and trying to take it seriously is completely different when you’re a student and you just happen to live in New York, versus really trying to make it without any of that routine or environment.”

Kinsley credits her success on social media and streaming platforms with giving her the opportunity she needed to make a career. She’s just released her first full-length album, Escaper, the theme of which is grief and transformation.

Single “Last Time We Never Meet Again” is about the dissolution of a friendship, approaching it with a balance of gratitude and finality: “I hope the universe/ Bends down to offer itself to you/ But for myself/ I hope I hear your name/ And I feel absolutely nothing,” she sings.

On “Glint,” Kinsley mourns a loved one lost too soon, singing, “There is a glint of you in everything/ For a moment I thought I saw you there in passing/ What a feeling/ There is no love lost when you stop breathing.” She laments a breakup on “Beautiful Things,” as she wonders, “How can beautiful things still be around/ After you’ve left me now?”

A fan of both classical and pop music, Kinsley says she wanted to make something that sounded grand and unstoppable. She went to great lengths in the studio to create the sounds she wanted to hear, including using singing glass bowls, an ondes martenot and an orchestra. It felt natural to bring orchestral sounds in when she began making her own music, she adds. The former “violin kid” got to play the instrument with the orchestra that appears on Escaper, which was a particular thrill.

She produced her own songs on previous EPs, but partnered with the famed John Congleton to co-produce the long-player because she loved the experimentation and boldness that he brought to the music of Angel Olson and St. Vincent.

“Usually, I’ve just made everything myself, but it felt very fitting to embark on the first proper album with somebody else,” she says.

She, Congleton and engineer Sean Cook spent a lot of time sitting in a room and figuring things out, even though most of the songs were finished by the time the three went to record.

“I’d thought about what I wanted the sonic landscape of the songs to be, or at least had a rough idea of them, but we completely workshopped everything from scratch,” she says.

The album’s sound was inspired by many different artists, including Olsen, The Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush. She says although the album is an odyssey through loss and transformation, at its heart it’s optimistic.

“The protagonist of this album moves through a journey of returning to the world after loss and moving through grief and choosing to come back to the world,” she says. “To come back to the self and to exist in the world, because even though it has flaws and pain and discomfort, it also has beauty and so much joy.”

Kinsley’s current tour is her longest yet, and she’s giddy about it. She says even though she can’t recreate all the exotic instruments that are on the record (those glass bowls, it turns out, are not cheap!), part of the fun is the way the songs change live. She plays guitar, synths, piano and even a contact mic on stage, which she says is a fun gadget for her.

“I’ve been yearning to get on the road and to finally play these songs in front of people, just because I feel like I’ve been harboring them for months and just kind of sitting with them,” she says. “The beauty of the live shows is that it’s completely different than what’s on the record. I don’t even go to shows myself to hear songs exactly [the same]. I want to hear experimentation. I want to hear the aliveness of the songs differently each night. So I look forward to doing that myself.”

She’s especially looking forward to playing at the Independent in San Francisco because of her personal Bay Area connection. Although she grew up in Connecticut and Singapore, she was born in Mountain View. On a birthday trip to San Francisco a few summers ago with her family, she was charmed by the cable cars and says she loved walking up the hills and enjoying the spectacular views at the top.

“I don’t take it lightly, because I know that it’s a big deal to be able to do this, and I feel a very immense privilege getting to do it right out of graduating college,” she says. “Hopefully the shows are peaceful and fun and a sweet time for everyone involved.”

Follow Rachel Alm on X at @thouzenfold, on Instagram at @thousandfold, and on Bluesky at @thousandfold.bsky.social.