By Olivia Abercrombie (@o_abercrombie)
After starting her solo career with Pantheon of Me and continuing to mostly lone-wolf it on Mazy Fly, SPELLING—the solo project of Chrystia Cabral—armed herself with a swarm of musicians from a 31-piece orchestra for her 2021 release The Turning Wheel; the impetus for the well-rounded, sonic alchemist that Cabral has morphed into. Her latest album, Portrait of My Heart, expounds upon her newfound instrumental garnishes and releases the intimate emotions long locked up in Cabral’s heart—a mix of love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation.
The grandiosity and drama of Cabral’s first record in almost four years can only be described as an intergalactic pop-rock opera. Portrait of My Heart marries the thumping synth of Mazy Fly with the jazzy R&B of The Turning Wheel. It introduces a heavy grunge element with weighty guitar breakdowns and pummeling percussion. To place SPELLING into one genre would be doing her a disservice. This project thrives in its fluidity, with Cabral’s powerful vocals and intimate writing holding it down at the center.
Portrait of My Heart lives for a grand moment, whether that’s a face-melting guitar solo or a heavenly choral interjection, there’s bound to be dramatic flair baked into each track. A playful nature bleeds through with the record’s sonic experimentation, one that comes from a once-solo artist toying around with access to a full band. The contributions from her band—guitarist Wyatt Overson, drummer Patrick Shelley and bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto—truly make Cabral’s fantastical sonic realms a reality. Along with her full orchestra and backing band, she incorporates piano in “Mount Analogue,” adding to the wall of sound and a duet from Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi—a first for Cabral.
After the electronic bend of the Bay Area artist’s first three avant-pop records, it feels correct that Cabral would subvert expectations by punching you in the face with heavy guitar-centric melodies right out of the gate. The album’s title track opens the record with pulse-pounding percussion and Cabral’s smokey voice claiming, “I don’t belong here.” Complete with eager guitar strumming, the first track opens up into an anthemic alt-rock barrage of guitars and violins. The heavenly orchestral strings and choir urge us to look heavenward alongside her.
Turning up the grunge factor, “Alibi” smacks you in the face with chugging guitars that rumble along Cabral’s vocals that lie somewhere between No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani and Tina Turner in her shouts of “Yeah I won’t take you back this time / Caught up in your alibi,” all complete with a delicious wailing guitar solo. “Destiny Arrives” dials back the grunge in favor of funky synth stings, creating a track that could belong on the soundtrack of an ’80s adventure flick. The sonorous, bursting chorus, echoey choral backing, and cymbal clash breakdown blend an exciting combination of peril and triumph.
“Keep It Alive” brings back the choral energy but adds distorted guitars, bringing the same upbeat urgency employed in the femme pop-rock of the ’90s and 2000s. The otherworldly synths invoke an image of an intergalactic princess and the soaring, hooky guitars are reminiscent of peak Avril Lavigne. “Drain” blends the rock-heavy beginning of the record with the sultry R&B that fuels the middle of the album, culminating in a tidal wave of Cabral’s howls, hammering percussion, and shrieking riffs (from ZULU guitarist Braxton Marcellous) that flawlessly introduce the drop-D, doom-coated breakdown that opens “Satisfaction.”
Time travel persists with “Love Ray Eyes,” which is packed with dazzling ’80s synths and chugging guitars that explode into a symphonic chorus. “Ammunition” continues with a smooth jazz-funk energy and a cover of My Bloody Valentine’s “Sometimes” brings us full circle with a dancier interpretation of the shoegaze classic. Cabral’s love of grand theatrics and whimsy grounds the record as a SPELLING record. Genre doesn’t make a SPELLING record, the dedication to experimentation and commitment to an articulately crafted sound do—whatever genre umbrella it may fall under. Portrait of My Heart represents what SPELLING does best: delivering the unexpected.