summary alt-pop from Scotland’s best

Learning Kaeto is like learning an summary portray: the extra consideration you pay, the higher you’ll perceive her. At first, she’s not straightforward to learn – going to clown college isn’t frequent to your common 20-something singer, and her lyrics usually transcend typical ruminations on love and heartbreak. Off the again of supporting Lauren Mayberry to The Final Dinner Celebration after her 2022 debut single ‘Good Morning’, ‘Intro’ wastes no time in drawing again the curtain on Kaeto’s artistry.

Opening observe ‘U R Mine’, a tune about Kaeto’s strengthened relationship along with her physique, is a young begin to assist a brand new period, her manner of beckoning us right into a secure nook of her thoughts. “It speaks to me / Maintain your breath / Really feel my pores and skin / Till dying”, she breathes excessive of a ringing keyboard riff, the misty intimacy of her phrases mustering a quiet energy.

However Kaeto’s heat rapidly cools with ‘Distance’, a observe smothered by damp organ and bass drum. Kaeto’s weightless vocal skates excessive as if, because the title suggests, she’s distancing herself from a risk that maybe resides in her personal self-consciousness (“You’re lined in ache / I do know you conceal it”). She pulls off the icy temper another way with ‘Hero’, whose fanned-out, synthesised arpeggios showcase her electro-pop facet earlier than falling again to let Kaeto’s voice take the reins.

A spotlight of the mixtape is ‘Pacifist’, the devices on which sound so crystalline that the listener all however floats alongside. The refrain’s assertive chord progressions are satisfying, and the tune’s glassy guitar and keyboard notes flash with Kaeto’s cool confidence.

Nevertheless, that’s to not say ‘Intro’ is flawless. ‘Alma’ is nice, however power ranges are just a little lukewarm in comparison with the remainder of the mixtape while the home observe ‘YOMM’ is barely spinoff.

However, true to its title, the mixtape is a stable introduction to Kaeto. This brew of polished synthesiser and eerie lyricism is crisp, assured and assertive. There’s no clowning round once we say this – she’s off to a flying begin.

Particulars

• Launch date: September 20, 2024
• Document label: Polydor Information