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Interview: How Kacey Fifield Mapped Constellations of Heartache and Hope in Her EP, ‘Seeing Stars’

Kacey Fifield has never been one to shy away from emotional authenticity. With her latest EP, Seeing Stars, she threads the constellations of heartbreak, healing, and newfound connections with striking clarity. In our interview, Kacey opens up about the spontaneous yet deliberate creative process behind the EP, the emotional tightrope of personal songwriting, and the nostalgic, cinematic weight that closes the collection. She also speaks candidly about her growth as an artist from her teenage years to her college life, and what fans can expect when she brings the project to life on stage. If you’re ready to step into a world where vulnerability meets synth-driven indie pop, this conversation with Kacey is one you won’t want to miss.

Welcome to A&R Factory, Kacey – it’s great to have you with us and congratulations on Seeing Stars landing so powerfully. Seeing Stars captures the emotional weight of love and loss with striking clarity. When you were writing these songs, did you already have a full narrative arc in mind, or did the storyline come together more organically through the writing process?

It was a spontaneous songwriting process, and the storyline became clearer with each song I wrote. “Seeing Stars” tells a story: from the pop-rock opener, “HOLD UR PEACE,” which brutally slams an “addict” to “no commitment” for their mixed signals against guitar shredding and energetic drum fills, to the vulnerable ballad “Right Past Me” which describes a sense of regret over one’s own mistakes in a relationship, all the way to the upbeat, synth-filled “In Between” which depicts the excitement and nerves of connecting with someone new.  “secrets” closes out the EP by emphasizing how past relationships continue to impact us as we “cling” onto the memories shared with that person.

Each track offers a distinct atmosphere while keeping the emotional tone cohesive. How did working with multiple producers across different cities influence the sound and cohesion of the final EP?

Working with multiple producers was fun and kept things interesting.  Since I wrote all the songs (with a few co-writers), it was relatively easy to keep the emotional tone cohesive. My EP blends the soundscapes of indie pop, synth pop, and classic rock to create a dreamy world focused on the intricacies of falling in and out of love, showcasing the various ways in which we metaphorically “see stars”.

“secrets” wraps the project on a nostalgic and almost cinematic note. Why did you choose this track as the closer, and what made it feel like the right place to leave listeners?

The anthemic melody, nostalgic background vocals, and synth solos in “secrets” create a soundscape that resembles the end of a coming-of-age film and spotlights the lyrics as they describe the process of finding closure and being at peace with the fact that former heartbreaks stick with us over time.  I thought that it was a great closing song that would leave listeners emotionally engaged.

You’ve spoken about the escapism of stargazing and quiet reflection. Do those moments still play a big role in how you process relationships, or has writing music replaced that outlet in some ways?

I have always enjoyed quiet moments of reflection.  Stargazing, songwriting, playing my guitar or simply walking in the park are all needed outlets in the way I process my thoughts and feelings.

There’s a fine balance in your lyrics between introspection and relatability. Do you ever find it difficult to write something personal while still thinking about how it might resonate with someone else?

I always write personal lyrics and don’t overthink it much in terms of will the song be relatable to others.  I find a lot of comfort in the fact that, if I am going through a certain emotion or experience, there are probably other people going through the exact same thing.  We are never alone in our feelings or thoughts.

Seeing Stars feels incredibly polished but still emotionally raw. Were there any songs that challenged you more than others to finish, either emotionally or creatively?

Yes, definitely!  I feel like I have grown as an artist and this EP reflects that more than anything.  The songwriting process was challenging, but so was selecting which songs made the cut. I wouldn’t say there was one particular song that sticks out as especially challenging, but the overall process of shaping my music into a cohesive story for the EP definitely took time.

From Between The Lines to Nostalgia Hunts Me, your discography shows a clear progression. What creative or emotional risks did you take with this EP that you hadn’t in previous projects?

When I wrote my album, I was still a teenager trying to find my way in the music world.  Through trying different styles, I found the voice and sound I liked. Both “Nostalgia Hunts Me” and  “Seeing Stars” reflect me at a given moment in time as a person and an artist.  The progression is me growing up from a senior in high school to a sophomore in college who is documenting life and growing pains.  Growing and developing as an artist and writing the music that I want to listen to is key.

You’ve hinted at wanting to bring these tracks to life on stage. What kind of energy or environment do you imagine for a live show built around Seeing Stars, and how do you hope audiences connect with it in person?

Playing my music live is my absolute favorite thing ever! Seeing Stars is definitely a project that requires a ton of energy so there will be loads of dancing, jumping, and audience engagement. I can’t wait to play the songs live!

Find your preferred way to stream the Seeing Stars EP via Kacey Fifield’s official website.

Interview by Amelia Vandergast

Photo credit: Maiya Buck Photography

Cinema Painted Dusk with Unconditional Indie Folk Pop Affection in ‘When the Sun Goes Down’

With a title that frames the dimming light as more than a shift in the sky, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ by London-based indie pop artist Cinema sinks into dusk with the kind of melancholia that only surfaces when you’re caught between the tendrils of longing. Through emotive vocal inflections, Cinema transforms a quiescent lo-fi folk-adjacent soundscape into an affecting invitation to feel the claws of compassion as you listen to the diehard romantic candour.

There’s no sleight of hand behind the heart-stirring honesty—just the kind of stripped-back introspection that sharpens with every whispered syllable and picks its battles with silence. With the same evocative intimacy as Cultdreams tied in with more mainstream indie folk pop appeal, Cinema has scored the ultimate formula to break out of the mainstream. The production refuses to rush, giving space to each aching note to stretch and settle under your skin, proving that emotional weight doesn’t need orchestral theatrics to be devastatingly impactful.

In the same way Frightened Rabbit disarms you with the artful agony, Cinema, with When the Sun Goes Down, takes the sum of its parts and calculates it into a profoundly moving sensory experience. If you needed any proof that there’s beauty in vulnerability, it’s in black and white in the kaleidoscope of unflinching confession of unconditional love which veers away from cliché, hitting all the right chords to attest to the striking sincerity with which it was composed and performed.

When the Sun Goes Down is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Blue Violence. Became the Definitive Sad Boi of Synth Pop with ‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’

Blue Violence. turned the emotional weight of disconnection into a dancefloor confession with ‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’, the keystone single from his 3-track EP, ‘Ugh…’. With synths set to shimmer and sardonic melancholy laced through the beat, this melancholic indietronica lament spins the disco ball on its axis to reflect a darker spectrum of inner turmoil.

Through anthropomorphised sorrow, Daniel Fischetti—writing and producing as Blue Violence.—exposes the paradox of internal desolation amidst external euphoria. While glitter rains and basslines throb in euphoric unison, his feet remain heavy with the weight of unshakable emotional inertia. There’s funk in the Depeche Mode-esque rhythm and pain in the lyricism, stitched together with the same magnetic gloom found in the works of John Grant.

Hailing from Southern California, Fischetti started Blue Violence in 2019 during a collaboration with producer and engineer Chris Caccamise of CJE Productions. Their work on the debut album Modern Love cemented Blue Violence. as a name worth noting in the shadowy corners of synth pop. Since then, Fischetti has remained self-contained in his sonic pursuits, refining his signature style without sanding away the raw emotional contours.

‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’ doesn’t fake the catharsis—it coils around it, examining every nuance of numbness through neon-soaked textures and darkly sweet tones. Blue Violence delivered the funked-up synth pop hit we never knew we needed. He’s the definitive sad boi of synth pop.

‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jack Fargo Hits a Natural High with Alt-Pop Anthem ‘Drugs on the Weekend’

Jack Fargo

Jack Fargo’s latest release, Drugs on the Weekend, is less Class A and more A-List radio-ready material—delivered as a wavy lo-fi mash-up of RnB, Hip-Hop, and pop. The track is an exposition on how the oxytocin rush from someone who scintillates your soul as much as your skin surpasses every synthetic high imaginable.

With funk-infused grooves and a horn section lifting the vibe even higher, Fargo turns this bedroom-pop musing into an indie anthem choked with infectious appeal. Fargo’s zealously electrifying vocal lines prove he did more than perform when stepping up to the mic; his verses pour straight from a soul bright enough to illuminate any room or arena. The harmonies and rap-infused verses warm the dreamy, lush layers of saturation, making the track an effortlessly magnetic listen.

Fargo, born Jack Fargotstein, is a Memphis-raised musician who sharpened his artistry through hip-hop mixtapes as Bigmac Jack before earning acclaim in LA as half of The Motel Brothers. Post-duo, Fargo returned to his solo roots, pulling influences from Ed Sheeran’s pop-rock effervescence, Mac Miller’s legendary ease, and classic R&B richness, all vividly showcased in this latest sonic concoction.

Drugs on the Weekend perfectly captures Fargo’s lyrical exploration of authentic connections, resonating through melodies that mirror the intimate rush of genuine chemistry. Fargo isn’t chasing superficial buzzes here; he’s illustrating that the purest high flows naturally.

Drugs on the Weekend is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Latin Pop Luminary Diego Molina Defined Romantic Sincerity in ‘What’s That Light In Your Eyes’

Diego Molina

Diego Molina’s latest single, ‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’, subversively opens with an intimate glimpse into relationship bliss, almost like overhearing a candid conversation through an accidental pocket dial, setting a refreshingly personal context for the heartfelt fervency of the Latin pop serenade that follows, gently redefining romantic sincerity beyond physical admiration.

Hailing from Nashville, Molina wrote, produced, and mixed the track himself, drawing charismatic sentimentality from early-2000s inspirations such as U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and Enrique Iglesias’ Escape. His approach carries an individuality shaped by his first visit to his Colombian roots, channelling the vibrant rhythms and spirited streets of Bogotá.

Sonically, Molina balances Latin pop traditions with synth-driven, new wave innovation. Angular guitar lines delicately ascend through the arrangement, soaring beyond the quickening heartbeat echoed by rhythmic beats. Retro-futurist synth textures amplify the emotional intensity, enveloping listeners in an atmosphere of ardent nostalgia. Molina’s diaphanous vocals, effortlessly slipping into vibrato, further amplify the authenticity and emotional depth of the love letter to sincerity and intimacy, which illuminates a romantic narrative with sophisticated yet accessible charm.

‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’ is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ian McFarland Used Pop Punk to Augment Optimism in His Latest Single, You Are So Loved

If there’s any justice left in indie’s distorted underbelly, Ian McFarland will be recognised as the artist who gave serotonin back to pop-punk. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has already earned a presence across regional charts and NYC live haunts, but You Are So Loved deserves to break much further beyond.

Following a sticky-sweet synth-pop intro, the single throws the genre right back to the golden era of visceral expression with its pop-punk crescendo of unfiltered optimism. But the stylistic transgressions don’t end there. Jangly new wave indie-pop nestles into the volition of the punk-tinged foundations, allowing McFarland to exhibit one of the most distinctive sonic signatures we’ve heard this year.

It’s not just the sound design that makes You Are So Loved cut through the cynicism often used as a crutch in alt scenes. McFarland weaponises sincerity as if it’s a subversive act. There’s bravery in broadcasting this much raw affection, especially within a genre known for self-deprecation and detached irony. But McFarland knew what he was risking—being written off as cloying or sentimental. He bypasses that pitfall entirely with his unshakable authenticity.

Born from a need to pull joy from bleakness, You Are So Loved is an adrenaline shot of altruism for anyone who needs to remember that the world can still look beautiful through a cracked lens.

You Are So Loved is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Akira Sky made a barricade of broken boundaries in her indie pop single, Block My Number

Through moodily ethereal indie pop vocal lines and the quiescent timbres of orchestral swells which drift around acoustic guitar strings and organic indietronica synthetics, Akira Sky invites listeners into a world where the messiness of human emotion unravels. The contradiction of heartbreak and empowerment is rendered with rare lucidity in Block My Number, where raw feeling is carved into every sonic contour.

As a senior at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute, Akira Sky has already shown she has a firm grasp on the emotional chaos of modern life. Her output captures the jittering pulse of being alive in a Pandora’s box of paradoxes. Through a fusion of high-octane pop instincts and vulnerable songwriting, she creates for the beautifully overwhelmed—for the ones who cry with conviction and dance with the same force.

Despite the quiescence of Block My Number, which draws a line in the sand and makes a barricade of broken boundaries, nothing about the single feels diaphanous; the strength of the innovation and soulfully projected self-advocacy ensures Block My Number is a sonorous soundtrack for anyone who wants closure while knowing they will live if they never get it. It’s less of a goodbye and more of a soft implosion—gentle enough to float, heavy enough to pull you under.

Block My Number is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

A Bed of Nails for a Teenage Crown – Tara Bleeds Through Her Debut Indie Pop Single, ‘Pain’

At the bitter-sweet age of 16, Tara has already mastered the art of balladry in her debut single, Pain. The Serbia-born, Sweden-raised singer-songwriter poured right from the pain in her soul, allowing it to transmute into haunting metaphors, ensuring they resound with maximum resonance as they articulate the frustration of hearing that your teenage years should be the best of your life, yet, you can’t escape the agony of them when depression, apathy, betrayal, uncertainty and heartbreak have you in a multifaceted chokehold.

With the production support of Tim Gosden, whose work cloaks the track in brooding textures, Pain sets the stage with aching progressions that echo the low-end dissonance of coming-of-age realism. Tara doesn’t posture; she gives voice to the unspoken realities of adolescence with the same conviction she uses to wrap her vibrato around each lyric. Her command of vocal expression carries the emotional weight without tipping into melodrama, grounding the track in raw authenticity.

Her cultural duality – growing up in Serbia before resettling in Sweden – doesn’t scream through the production, but it subtly informs her capacity to view the chaos of teenhood from an introspective, poetically jaded lens. Her tone is mature without shedding the fragility that makes her debut impossible to dismiss.

With a voice and instrumental blueprint exclusive to her, Tara’s success is fated in Pain.

Pain is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Nick Cody & The Heartache’s ‘Next Up’ Is A Swaggering Alt-Rock Serenade to Survival

With their latest single, Next Up, from the freshly pressed LP This is Love and the Heartache, Leeds-based Nick Cody & The Heartache have decidedly dialled up the swank and swagger. Frenetically paced grooves pull listeners into a sandstorm of Jim Morrison-esque desert-infused vocals, while backing harmonies create a dynamic, kinetic whirlwind of alt-rock reverence. The ensemble seems charged with an infectious energy that leaps effortlessly from musician to musician, ensuring the track becomes a certified serotonin shot—even against the stark refrain, ‘you don’t know what it’s like to die ‘round here’.

Clearly the band’s boldest sonic exploration to date, the creative gamble has spectacularly paid off. Genre boundaries crumble away as Next Up seamlessly sways from funk to college radio rock, slipping into vintage soul without missing a beat or dropping intensity. Released via Green Eyed Records—an imprint championing creative collaboration, previously hosting acclaimed artists like Jon Gomm and Martin Simpson—the single underscores Cody’s razor-sharp lyrical instincts and penchant for crafting melodies that refuse to fade.

Next Up is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Niamh Casey lyrically grounds the grandeur in her chamber pop diary entry, Fake Friend

Niamh Casey

Niamh Casey delivers tonal grandeur through grounded intimacy in her standout single, ‘Fake Friend’. Her flawlessly pitched, unfeigned vocal lines soar alongside an orchestral pop intensity, swiftly shifting into raw rock reverence with a broadsiding crescendo that spills beyond stadium proportions. Beneath the ornate instrumentation lies a deeper emotional reckoning: Casey captures the sheer exhaustion of existing at your emotional limits in a friendship devoid of reciprocity, where all is expected but nothing mutual ever materialises.

Pivoting away from her familiar themes of romantic heartbreak, Casey turns her gaze towards the murkier waters of friendship, highlighting the stark reality that bonds built on trust, honesty, and mutual support often fracture painfully. The single’s ironic title cleverly frames the cycle of adolescent reflection as Casey carousels through repeated disappointments, mirroring the shallow interactions with her own weary realisations. Each verse speaks rhetorically to the friend, challenging their conscience before swiftly turning inward, questioning her own judgement and emotional resilience.

As the bridge ignites, resentment physically releases through echoes of past betrayals and broken trust, vividly portraying how exhausting one-sided friendships truly become. Casey’s lyrical narrative relentlessly explores how grief and contempt intersect when the loss of a so-called friend offers more peace than pain.

With the potential of becoming the Tori Amos of her generation, all eyes and ears should be on Niamh Casey as the release of her upcoming EP inches closer.

‘Fake Friend’ is now available to stream on all major platforms.

Follow Niamh Casey on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast