Kierst

In her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, Kiersten Chow began playing shows in dive bars and local venues at the age of 16 while writing songs that would later be released under the shortened moniker, Kierst. Now 23 and based in Brooklyn, Kierst has steadily amassed a modest but devoted following with a string of early Bandcamp releases, all self recorded and released during her college years in the city.

Her debut EP, Thud, arrives via UK label Sad Club Records on November 10th. A gentle melding of two extremes – slowcore aesthetics and dead-of-night fragility – Thud makes for a fascinating snapshot of Kierst’s work. While these songs retain the raw charm of her early demos, the finished recordings are fleshed out to something even more determined and compelling. So we have beautiful strings, spliced up and rearranged by Kierst, off-kilter piano parts, and live drums courtesy of Greg Rutkin, recorded and then engineered live at Baby’s All Right in one night by Jesse Paller. The result is a woozy collection of heartfelt songwriting, with subtle nods to the work of Elliott Smith and Broadcast in their more tethered moments.

The Thud EP includes single, “How to Be,” which lead to reviews from Beats Per Minute and Clash Magazine who said of the single: "the song unfurls gently, slowing, asserting its own pace while pinning down emotional meaning. A song about embracing your own passions and desires, ‘How To Be’ is about learning to cut out the noise." Subsequent singles have been supported by the likes of Rough Trade, The Line of Best Fit, Crack Magazine, and BBC Radio 6.

Now a 4-piece with George Matsuo on lead guitar, Ian Horrocks on bass, and Sean Pantea on drums, Kierst’s songs most widely known for their complex intimacy are reinvigorated live with a blistering urgency to be heard.