With a uniquely mesmerizing voice and production captivating enough to ground it, Sarah Kinsley’s Ascension EP is one of the most exciting collections of pop songs released this year so far. Apart of an apparent tradition, her third EP in three years to arrive in early June only has five songs, but it’s enough of a sampler to desire what a full-length from her could sound like.

Her voice is wholly unique and original, able to ground the entire project yet metamorphosizes into so many different shapes. Whether intentional or not, she channels voices from the likes of Weyes Blood, Kate Bush, Lana Del Rey, and MARINA in separate peeks throughout the whole collection. And it’s done to marvelous results — “Black Horse” combines higher-pitched backing vocals to sing about identity and legacy. “On the eclipse of my mind / Feeling like I might lose myself this time”, she speeds through quickly on the chorus, before one of the most triumphant parts on the EP, where she sings, “Something in me screams / To be wild, to be obscene / To stop playing the first-born daughter in your American dream.”

“Lovegod”, one of the best songs of the year so far, is lyrically in a lonely, desperate place, but its lush city pop-adjacent instrumental has a monumental feel to it. On here, her trained voice is most on display, reaching meteoric heights and lows all during the same sentence. “Lovegod, send me someone, send me anyone to close the mountain inside,” she pleads, before admitting she goes to bars to connect with mentally unavailable “pricks” to substitute love, for the time being. Lead single “Oh No Darling!” is a playful jilt at herself about the perils of entering a new decade in one’s life: “There she goes / Runnin’ with her head / For the sake of livin’ on the edge,” almost taunting herself.

Ascension isn’t always nice to its creator — its writing usually shows Kinsley as a woman who makes mistakes but learns from them, a sign of everyone’s 20s. “For a sliver of time,” she admits on the closing track, “I thought I had everything right / Disillusioned assuming love was the answer / The center I give myself up to attain,” with lush vocals and songwriting that could be effortlessly placed on a recent Weyes Blood album.

Ascension is a joy. Kinsley clearly has an adept voice, but its pairing with her creativity make her serious competition in the alt-pop field.

Order Ascension by Sarah Kinsley HERE