Elly Kace’s ‘The Seventh Gate’ & Songs as Spells
A Warm Review of the Hypnotic Baroque-Pop Journey
review By Calli Ferguson
Image by Ryan Rivard
Songs are spells. Or rather, they can be spells– when crafted as such.
I might even go so far as to say there is no spell quite like a song. The weaving of soundwaves, a response in emotion, and language as symbols…
Elly Kace seems to write songs like writing spells. Each piece is delicately crafted, every ingredient holding meaning.
Their latest release, The Seventh Gate, is a testament to this. The artist even calls the project “a fierce admission of my own mysticism.” And so it sounds. Acting as a sort of extension of their 2023 album, Object Permanence, this record nods to the pain and grief Kace’s previous work explored. Only this time, adding the suggestion that light is there too.
While Kace notes an intention to “lean into the light,” The Seventh Gate is not simply a sunny opposite to pain. Instead, it weaves grief and hope together, even jumping between haunting and uplifting sounds. Not only in the project as a whole, but within each track, there is an acknowledgement of complexities in the human experience, nonlinear journeys through healing, and the strange places hope and joy can show up.
The album opens with the bright and whistful “Lisianthuses”. A distinctly pretty song, on which Kace’s vocals are somehow both airy and grounded. They romantically play around instrumentals with tender harmonies, lyrics feeling instrumental themselves.
The next track, “Moon”, comes in with a more ominous intensity. Lyrics tell an almost storybook-like tale of a bird. Kace sings, “A little bird in the dirt remembered her mother/ the pedals of her heart were plucked but so tender/ So she sat in the tree at night/ With her eyes open wide/ Singing they walk away/ And I drink it in like medicine/ Hang my head to pray/ To a picture of the moon.” And it’s all the more enchanted by Kace’s voice almost howling the word “moon”. Classical elements and philosophies decorate the music in a hauntingly beautiful backdrop– something that becomes a motif throughout the album.
Between the artfully chosen and theatrical qualities of The Seventh Gate and Kace’s technically intricate vocals, the artist’s roots in classical music are undeniable in this record. Having spent many years singing opera, studying at a conservatory, and performing at venues like Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, the artist dedicated themselves to their craft, mastering the vocal control you hear today. As it did for so many, though, Elly Kace’s story shifted during the pandemic. Turning toward meditation, the artist discovered a freeing of their voice and an instinct to experiment.
That journey is so alive in the genre-bending projects that followed.
In a way, the trajectory makes total sense. Operatic vocal performance fills space in a cathedral way– it almost can’t help but come off as spiritual. Something really powerful happens when you combine that with the Baroque-pop-style music they’re making now and its themes of mysticism. This influence is alive in tracks like “What would be enough”, complimented by angelic strings.
You might compare the orchestral elements and witchy energy here to Florence and The Machine. Or pick up on bits of Björk or FKA Twigs in the experimental moments. But my first listen through The Seventh Gate actually reminded me of my first listen through Mitski’s Be The Cowboy in 2018. It bravely spoke to corners of humanity I’m often scared to touch on my own. There were, certainly, elements of prettiness. But also a rawness, spookiness, an unpredictability. My first impression of Mitski’s album was shaped by feeling seen by it— almost exposed by it. I imagine The Seventh Gate could touch a listener in a similar way. Between the interconnection and alignment set forth by “Syzygy” and ritualizing the shift between body and mind that happens in “The Body,” this is the kind of art that might confront you like medicine if you let it.
“Dust” moves us back to the sparkly sounds that hold the album. We’re brought to this wonderful, warm trumpet moment. Still, an aching quality asks to coexist with relief. An oceanic hush floats in the in-betweens. And altogether, “Dust” captures so much of what this project achieves as a whole. It hits like a melancholic lullaby.
Among the moving inspirations and feelings behind this project, Elly Kace notes: “the liminal space I find myself occupying when the veil feels thin.” Liminal space is not an easy thing to capture. It’s not even an easy thing to identify. But it’s created in The Seventh Gate. In the last track, “Pink Sky”, we’re left with a song that’s as hopeful as it is final. A pink sky itself is transitory, divine, ephemeral. It is a beginning, an end, and the truth that they are one in the same. “Pink Sky” sends the listener off with that feeling, served delicately.
Songs are spells when they’re crafted as such. But also when they’re held as such.
It’s my prescription that Elly Kace’s The Seventh Gate is best consumed with an open heart and healing intentions. In other words: let it move you, listener, and be open to what moves through you. Listen for the painterly way every hook, instrument, and sound dances together. Imbued with intention, this album can be listened to as something to journey through.
💿 LISTEN TO THE SEVENTH GATE WHERE YOU LISTEN
꩜ CONNECT WITH ELLY KACE ON INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | & ONLINE
