Bay Area singer/songwriter Kelly McFarling creates music that is inspired by folk, rock, and alt-country. McFarling has spent the last decade in the Bay Area self-releasing three albums. Ahead of the release of her new LP Deep the Habit (out March 12th), McFarling has shared a super 8 video for the album track “North Decatur.”

McFarling’s new album Deep the Habit reintroduces McFarling as a bandleader and frontwoman, fashioned from equal parts tenderness and swagger. Sparked by the idea of a feminine take on JJ Cale or Dire Straits, McFarling’s contribution to that corner of the canon infuses it with softness and vulnerability. There are hooks with just enough pop-sheen to conjure Stevie Nicks or even Pat Benetar; but we also get threads of more modern alt.country and indie folk, like Hiss Golden Messenger or Molly Sarlé.

“”North Decatur” is about those lifelong companion memories that color you from the inside. I don’t remember when I could register the way the light moved, but I have a clear vision of it – just this gorgeous little breadcrumb into my earliest mind. I was thinking about how habitual it is for me to turn to these images and feelings to orient myself. It’s so comforting to gather the original pieces of the puzzle, before any of it had been put together. I like sitting with the idea that our memories are ‘all that we have,’ and how that is such an enormous thing. How our stories, and the way we repeat them to ourselves make up so much of who we are.

North Decatur was a true collaboration between Andrew and me. He had this beautiful guitar part he would play and it would float all over the house. I loved it. We came up with the melody together, and I found the words from the visions and emotions that the music conjured up. North Decatur is one of my favorite moments on the whole album.

Charlie Miller is an old friend of mine who is a maker and tinkerer of beautiful things, most notably Dewey’s wines. He makes these amazing little super 8 videos for his wines, and they always make me feel nostalgic. I love the video he made so much. I can’t explain how it makes me feel. The images are like the inside of my brain, and heart.”

Dynamic in texture and vast in scope, Deep The Habit captures the freewheeling feel of McFarling’s live shows with her band. The record introduces Andrew Brennan as a collaborator and co-writer, deepening the spectrum of instrumental arrangement; an earthy evolution of past folk-centered albums. The band features Tim Marcus on pedal steel, Oscar Westesson on Bass, Nick Cobbett on drums, Andrew Brennan on guitar and Brittany Powers on background vocals.

Its themes, meanwhile, unfold in layers: love and family, truth and memory, connection to the land what we owe each other – and the lifelong tension between holding fast to one’s roots and clearing space for fresh green growth.

Pre-order Deep the Habit by Kelly McFarling HERE