Cinematic and far more epic than it’s presented to us in the EP version of its medley, the music video for Kemme’s “Cyclorama” starts off in a cryptic haze of tones before finding definition in the darkness. There’s an unsubtle feeling to the violent strides the rhythm behind the harmonies will take in this performance, and yet it feels entirely intentional and designed this way deliberately to highlight some of the specific abilities Kemme is showing off behind the mix here. She came prepared to bring the house down in this video, and even with a voice as powerful as hers is, this isn’t the sort of statement pop fans should scoff at – she may well be a future icon in the making.

URL: https://www.kemmemusic.com/

In taking a look exclusively at the visuals comprising the video for “Cyclorama,” it’s remarkably difficult for me to describe what I’m seeing as being anything else other than beautiful theatre. Crossing over from animation to live-action imagery and back, the dreaminess in this work isn’t something they ever could have contained – only emphasized with greater degrees of artistic warmth. We’re always faced with the same postmodernity no matter which angle we approach this single from, and I would even argue that had anyone other than Kemme been at the center of the mix, this might not have been the case at all. She makes this what it is, and I don’t believe many critics out there are going to disagree with me at all.

To best understand and evaluate the mood behind the narrative presented to us by the lyrics, it’s important to look at Kemme’s vocal as a separate entity from the minimalism and even the lusher elements of the instrumentation in “Cyclorama.” She’s the most consistent point of order amidst all of the chaos and unpredictable ebbtide of melodic color we find ourselves facing around every twist and turn in its music, and while her vocal conveys potent enigmas and riddles like they’re going out of style, it’s the manner in which she’s delivering her stories that matters the most here. This is a singer and songwriter who controls the tempo and the energy in the room with more than just her linguistic might, and in a video like this one, it’s clear just how versatile a skillset she’s actually working with.

Undeniably one of the most complete performances and introductions to a young vocalist’s sound that you’re going to hear before the winter season has met its conclusion, Kemme’s “Cyclorama” is a music video and EP that you would be foolish to avoid if you love powerful indie pop. Straddling the grooves with more elegance than angst, Kemme unfurls emotional confessions one after another in this piece, sometimes leaning on the foundation of the melodies, others simply crying out in the stoic backdrop for an echoless response all too chilling among those of us feeling lonesome during quarantine times. It’s a listen I won’t soon forget, and one I recommend to anyone who loves music period.

John McCall