Ms Spacey Kacey’s Saturn has returned, and from her past 35 years of experiences, she offers her fifth studio album, Deeper Well.
At 42 minutes long, Deeper Well sweeps in and invites you on a journey of healing, honesty and, most importantly – deep and everlasting love for oneself.
The mellow harmonies and acoustics on ‘Cardinal’ open the story and world of Deeper Well to its audience. With the opening line, “I saw the sign or an omen on the branches in the morning / it was right after I lost a friend without warning,” Kacey illustrates how her perspective shifted with the loss of someone close, reminding us how fate is often unforgiving and when it brings darkness we should take it as an opportunity to reflect (or listen to the birds). The vocal reverb and instrumentation on ‘Cardinal’ make the song feel like a modern-day Fleetwood Mac tune, which is the perfect way to set the album’s tone.
The album’s title track and first single, ‘Deeper Well,’ delves into shedding off the baggage holding down your ability to find your inner zen and peace. Kacey’s baggage includes those who no longer serve her and not participating in daily healthy patterns. The song smells of freshly cut grass, although the lyrics discuss another strain of green (if you know Kacey, you know). The music video, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, was shot amongst the moss and extreme winds in Iceland, as seen in the video’s final frame of Kacey illuminated in her own light, shining brighter and more alive than ever before despite the turbulent winds which come her way.
‘Too Good to be True’, the album’s second single, is a ballad exploring the common feeling of hoping the person you’re falling for will be tender with your heart, and that if they are, it might be a dream – as the love is too good to be real. Interpolating Anna Nalick’s 2004 song ‘Breathe (2 AM)’, ‘Too Good to be True’ has this enchanting sound that feels nostalgic and familiar, yet simultaneously feels completely modern. The music video’s cinematography and stylisation are reminiscent of the 70s, with Kacey singing on a movie set yet also being the lead actress in the movie based on the song’s scenario.
On ‘Moving Out’, Kacey ruminates on her divorce and how one must physically and mentally move out of the past to move onward and free up space for new beginnings. As Summer leaves fall in Autumn, so can a relationship’s life. As Kacey sings, “and even though I feel excited, I’m kinda sad we’re leavin’ now that autumn’s movin’ in,” we feel the minimalism of the song’s production, reminiscent of an empty packed-up room. ‘Giver / Taker’ sees Kacey being open and honest about how much she can give and take from the closest people in her life.
‘Sway’, co-written with Tommy English, opens with low, humming synths, then goes on to bloom with a steel guitar that glides like the wind. Kacey contemplates, saying “maybe one day I’ll learn how to sway / like a palm tree in the wind I won’t break / I’ll just bend and I’ll sway.” With the notion of throwing caution to the wind weaved throughout the album, the song ends with reverbed vocal stacks, giving the effect of Kacey’s harmonies ascending into a clear blue sky.
On ‘Dinner with Friends, ’ a ukulele compliments Kacey’s musings, which sincerely explore the various things that bring her happiness and peace in life, with her then going on to muse about ‘the one’ who brings her peace and love in life throughout the choruses. The song is a sincere love letter to all she has gratitude for, including her “home state of Texas, the sky there, the horses and dogs – but none of their laws.” The album’s eighth track, ‘Heart of the Woods’, with its field recordings of birds tweeting and a gentle breeze, is a mystical tune that illustrates the life of the woods and how it’s human nature to look out for one another if there is to be danger. While listening, it’s easy to envision Kacey as a queen of an enchanted woodland.
A particularly special and standout moment on Deeper Well, ‘Jade Green’ is sensual and deep, with Kacey comparing her essence to a jade stone, which she not only keeps close to her for protection but also places in the moonlight for cleansing as she does with her body. Full of strings and Kacey plucking a dulcimer, the song is bewitching and feels immersed in folk magic. ‘The Architect’, co-written by Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, has Kacey asking questions and for answers from ‘the architect’ (likely God), wondering “this life that we make, is it random or fate? Can I speak to the architect? Is there an architect?”. ‘Lonely Millionaire’ is a smooth and tender woo towards the man Kacey desires. Interpolating ‘Kody Blu 31’ by rapper JID, the song feels erotically charged, yet has Kacey keeping her cool and reminding this millionaire man: “be careful what you wish for, I see it all the time / the money and the diamonds and the things that shine can’t buy you true happiness.”
Kacey pens poetry on ‘Heaven Is’, singing “maybe we’ll ride white horses in the sky and if we don’t then, darling, tonight that’s what heaven is”. It feels almost like a prayer for being content and being able to unearth heaven from ordinary/mundane things. The song is unique in that it interpolates Isabel Pagan and Robert Burns’ 1794 Scottish folk song ‘Ca’ the yowes to the knowes’, a love tale of a shepherdess. ‘Anime Eyes’ is not only a love song but also a love letter to anime, such as Sailor Moon and the Japanese animator/director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki. The lyrics talk of Kacey perceiving a lover through anime eyes, where her love for this person is as beautiful as Miyazaki’s films: “made it through the tears to see a Miyazaki sky, now it’s you and I and we’re flying”. The album’s closer, ‘Nothing to Be Scared Of’, is a bittersweet end note on no longer being afraid of your own baggage and the ghosts you keep in your heart. Kacey professes that she’ll help her lover unpack their bags and that there’s nothing to fear and only love here.
Deeper Well is Kacey’s most mature, emotionally transparent and personal body of work to date, with her flexing her abilities to be a bending palm tree that won’t break in a world full of hard oaks. The album’s meditations on healing, self-reflection and placing your fate into the universe ultimately inspire those of us who have the privilege to take the time to slow down in this world in order to consider our path and if it’s the healthiest and happiest one. And if not? Maybe we should let our doubts of fate wash away and let the stars illuminate us – body and soul.
