I like the way it builds up. I gotta play it louder my next listen lol

😁😁😁

Cabral enlisted touring bandmates (performing as the Mystery School) Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass) to record Portrait of My Heart, as well as mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, producer Psymun, and SZA collaborator Rob Bisel.

Portrait of My Heart also includes vocal contributions from Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bear, who sings on “Mount A***ogue,” and instrumentals from Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory (“Alibi”) and Zulus Braxton Marcellous (“Drain”).

pitchfork.com/news/spellling-announces-new-album-portrait-of-my-heart-shares-video-watch

the strings on the hook>>
drums are going crazy on this too

Soo good,

I DONT BELONG HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE

yea Spellling boutta drop AOTY again

She's one person?! Always just assumed Turning Wheel was by a band

majestic tune

she stayed at my apartment with her bf (my homie) recently

very excited for the new album

Cause I kicked down all my angels to the dirt

And I ran from consequences I deserved...

Okay yeah, the title track is great Interesting lyrically as always, and the urgency in the production matches the content of the song. Starts the album off with a bang.

OP updated with tracklist.

Same key info but longer description from the record label's site:

On Chrystia Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror. Cabral’s lyrics for Portrait of My Heart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something pointed into her human heart. The album’s thematic forthrightness is echoed in its arrangements, making it the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s The Turning Wheel to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.

The title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of “I don’t belong here,” is the most potent embodiment of the album’s turn toward emotional directness. Once the main melody emerged, Cabral used the song as a tool to process her anxiety as a performer and opted for a tighter, more rock-oriented composition. This transformation mirrors the album’s broader shift toward energy and immediacy, driven by the core band of Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), whose collaboration uncovers new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for Portrait of My Heart to her bandmates helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers—The Turning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.

Key guest contributions further shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) delivers SPELLLING’s first duet on “Mount A***ogue,” Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral’s original piano demo for “Alibi” into the crunchy, riff-y version that appears on the record, while Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous gives “Drain” its sludgy heft. These parts aren’t just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe.

Ultimately, though, Portrait of My Heart is nobody’s record but Cabral’s. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she’s never included in SPELLLING before—her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. “It’s very much an open diary of all those sensations,” she says.

sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr347-spellling-portrait-of-my-heart?srsltid=AfmBOorLBt0Get4ly77Q9JCfb5rHVelA-Rpd89mV1L0bidxuLxMaJnDO

Very cool

Alibi

She's throwing some curveballs on this record

new single?? niceeee

Destiny Arrives 3/5/25! click the link in bio to join the waitlist for @spellling ‘s new video premiere, and make sure to stick around after the video premiere for a very special pre-recorded q&a with Tia!

instagram.com/p/DGvj0uCxGww