spill tab Conjures an Ideal Self and Indie Pop Fantasy in 'KLEPTO'
Photo: Jade Sadler
spill tab’s sophomore EP, KLEPTO, is a charmingly rebellious brew of genre-bending production and magnetic songwriting.
“Fetišh” opens the EP with a gut-punch of an introductory line as spill tab sings, “i’ll be your fetish / i’ll keep your heart alive / i’ll leave it cold and spinning.” It establishes the intimacy of the space listeners are entering when they click play on KLEPTO—it’s raunchy like a late-night conversation between close friends, but refined with a glossy, mature production style. spill tab leans into the rawness of her vocal delivery, letting that energy flutter into the instrumental palette as the song explodes into a glitchy, industrial breakdown of sound.
The bass-driven arrangement movement persists on “Window,” one of the EP’s standout singles. This track highlights spill tab’s witchlike way of crafting vocal layers with an unmatched fluidity. The harmonies interact with the winding dance of the lead melody seamlessly, creating a lush curtain of vocals to coast over the distorted soundscape beneath. “Splinter” continues to showcase spill tab’s range, unfurling moments of sultry low tones, delicate finger-picked guitar progressions, dizzyingly stacked layers, and gutsy drums, all fanned across one melancholic indie pop anthem.
“Sunburn” is a prime example of spill tab’s progressive production instincts, pairing glassy synth tones with dry, candid percussion, and haunting melodies with gritty, artistically-filtered vocals. Then, “CRÈME BRÛLÉE!” wraps up the EP with driving percussion and an iconic scope of motifs. Listeners are led through a journey that traverses through nearly-classical guitar melodies, rock-leaning riffs, and staticky piano chords that culminates in one of the most alluring, lingering endings of recent memory.
"I made a lot of these songs during a time in my life where so much was changing, a lot of good evolutions but those came with endless self doubt, hella imposter syndrome, and just the general notion that I'm doing things very wrong but not really knowing what necessarily feels right either," shares spill tab. "I think I just felt kind of alone throughout these songs being made, and so I think a lot of them are very inner dialogue-y, the lyrics talk about fantasies and hidden feelings and private thoughts that are harder to share than others. I think probably ‘fetišh’ is the biggest example of that. It's this sort of make-believe conversation with someone that's being delivered in a very dom, assertive way that I fantasize I could one day authentically pull off lol. But I also think putting these alter egos in music makes them more accessible to me in real life. In these sorts of songs, I write up versions of myself I wish I could be. Maybe it's my attempt at writing myself into something new."
spill tab has taken the captivating nature of pop music and morphed it into something borderless with KLEPTO—a seductive intersection of indie and alternative that is undeniably cool.
Listen to KLEPTO below:
