• News

• All

Feb 09, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Caroline Kingsbury

The ambitions of LA-based singer/songwriter Caroline Kingsbury aim squarely at the pop world on her upcoming debut, Heaven’s Just A Flight. The hooks entice, the instrumentation dazzles, and the emotions overwhelm. Beneath the escapist heights, Kingsbury delivers a thoroughly human story. From coming out as queer to her religious family to all the personal losses Kingsbury has faced on her road thus far, the journey to the record has been far from easy, and Kingsbury doesn’t shy away from vulnerability.

After self-releasing several of these tracks in previous years, Kingsbury opened for Chai, Aurora, and toured with Alex Lahey, all the time building towards her own full-length debut. In addition to serving as Kingsbury’s full-length introduction to the world, Heaven’s Just a Flight is also the first release from Fortune Tellers, the label founded by Peter Matthew Bauer of The Walkmen. Kingsbury has now returned with the latest single from the record, “Massive Escape,” premiering a day early with Under the Radar.

Opening with a yelp, splashy ‘80s guitar tone, and towering percussion, Kingsbury’s impassioned plea on “Massive Escape” is her most arresting yet. Amid the throwback instrumentation and her roaring vocals, Kingsbury drives home the song’s pop melodrama with perfect precision. The sound, the lyrics, the emotions - all sound massive. The lyrics hit their most intense moment as Kingsbury shouts, “And then a plane crashed into someone’s house, Los Angeles County / You should know / I made that shit happen.” Yet, wherein another song that line would be the climax, “Massive Escape” only builds from there. A thick bass line enters the mix, and the drums hit even more immense heights before fading out on a textured percussive soundscape. Pop thrives on big emotions, and Kingsbury more than delivers on “Massive Escape.”

Kingsbury says of the song, “‘Massive Escape’ - A 100% real narrative account of a drunk heartbroken night. Wrote this song sitting at the bar where my ex used to go. I walked there from an awkward hookup, drank two shots of tequila and a beer while watching a plane crash into someone’s house in LA on the news. Turns out it was the exact metaphor I needed to describe how I was feeling.”

She goes on to say of the accompanying video, “The video depicts the greatest massive escape to ever occur…Escaping from earth. I am somehow the alien and a person on earth at the same time.” Check out the song and video below and watch for Heaven Is A Flight, out April 16th on Fortune Tellers.