Anything with more than a distant echo of the fabulous Kate Bush in its sonic DNA will always catch my attention. Celeste Corsano isn’t deliberately trying to mimic or plagiarize, but she does have a similarly expressive vocal delivery, not to mention a sense of creative playfulness in her music.
The song’s theme is almost a statement of intent for her music, reminding us that following fads, being part of the pack, going with the creative flow, and being influenced and guided by the mainstream will only produce more of the same. It might be scary to try to go it alone and embrace your individuality, but to be aware of such a leap of faith and jump anyway is the only way to be truly original.
Only a small and talented group of female artists has ever truly remade pop in their own image – the aforementioned Ms. Bush, Tori Amos, Natasha Khan, and Joanna Newsom are the few who spring readily to mind. Still, Celeste Corsano indeed joins that rare group, and “Sunlight Gazing” is a song that defies anything more than a broad generic label. (Alt-pop? Popular yet running against the popular mainstream? Actually, the more I think about that, the more it fits.)
Corsano has been working with Magic Door main man Ray Ketchem (Guided by Voices, Elk City, Gramercy Arms, Luna, Crash Harmony) for a while now on this and music to follow. “Sunlight Gazing” also features guitarist James Mastro and keyboardist-bass player David Nagler of Nova Social.
As debuts go, this is spectacular, the calling card for a very special artist. With more releases planned throughout the year, Celeste Corsano is certainly going to be an artist to watch and indeed listen to very closely.
Sunlight Gazing single
Bandcamp
YouTube video
Spotify
Apple Music
