SPELLLING

California-based artist Chrystia Cabral records fantasy-like, genre-blurring experimental pop under the appropriately magical pseudonym Spellling. Her self-released 2017 debut, Pantheon of Me, was a haunting set of dreamy, loop-based avant-folk. After the album received acclaim, she signed with Sacred Bones Records and released Mazy Fly, a more fleshed-out blend of dark synth pop, art pop, and hazy soul, in 2019. Her third album, 2021′s The Turning Wheel, was even more expansive, with lusher orchestration and more progressive arrangements. She reworked songs from her first three albums for 2023′s Spellling & the Mystery School.
Cabral grew up in the suburbs of Sacramento before moving to Oakland in search of artistic freedom. She initially concentrated on making visual art, but following the death of a close friend, she was inspired to start making music in 2015, using looping pedals, synths, drums, and guitars to channel messages from her dreams. Music quickly became a passion for her, and she began performing around the Bay Area, often in unconventional venues such as a chapel and a former mortuary. She released her debut EP, Pantheon of Me, in early 2017.
Her fluid blend of hypnotic folk, ethereal darkwave, and abstract soul earned attention from the local press, and her debut full-length, also titled Pantheon of Me, appeared later in the year. The album immediately received attention from websites like Pitchfork and Afropunk. After signing with Sacred Bones, Spellling released the single “Hard to Please” in 2018, which was backed with a cover of Sparks’ “My Other Voice.” The following year, Sacred Bones released Spellling’s sophomore record, Mazy Fly. The album featured “Hard to Please” as well as the single “Haunted Water.” Her third long-player, The Turning Wheel, arrived in 2021. Self-produced and performed by a cast of 31 musicians, the album was divided into a more upbeat “Above” half and a more chilling, gothic “Below” half. Along with her touring band, Cabral re-recorded songs from her first three albums, documenting how they’d evolved through years of performances, for the 2023 release Spellling & the Mystery School. ~ Paul Simpson