“LA-based singer-songwriter Leah Capelle is released her latest album, triptych, on April 3.

Her final single before the album dropped scored critical acclaim as “i keep her” was a personal coming out letter to herself and an ode to women exploring their sexuality (we also loved “On Accident”). Prior to the wide release of the album, Capelle wanted to give the readers of American Songwriter an exclusive look at how the album came to be.

In her own words, Capelle breaks down the genesis of triptych: I withdrew from everyone for about a year writing this record. The songs come from my depressive episodes, drug-induced evenings, broken-heart breakdowns, first dating experiences as an openly bisexual woman, and eventually, beautiful moments of acceptance and healing. ‘triptych,’ to me, is not just a breakup album. It’s the story of how I had to lose myself – to lose everything I held close – to find myself again. Talking about struggles with mental health and substance abuse amidst the context of a breakup is a delicate balance – and it remains difficult to determine if I was just heartbroken, or genuinely performing acts of escapism. But ultimately, I don’t think it really matters.

This is an album about life – the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. I hope, in listening, it gives you even a fraction of the healing it has given me in creating it. ”

“Leah Capelle‘s new single ‘i keep her,’ which BlackBook premieres here, opens with the stark confession: ‘I take too much and leave nothing for her / I don’t why I do it, and I don’t know how to stop.’

It’s this kind of emotional honesty that has propelled the young LA songstress steadily into the greater spotlight since her 2014 debut EP. And on this track, with the kind of visceral intensity of a Vanessa Carlton or Lykke Li, she conveys longing and vulnerability in equal measure, over thundering drums, and against an opulent, haunting sweep of strings.

She admits to a deep, emotional connection with women, something which created an understandable measure of confusion when she was younger. But she’s since learned to be more honest with herself, and accepting of her real feelings.
Ultimately, Capelle says it was a difficult song to write with lyrics ‘I want him to be what I want him to… Did I hurt you? / You know I didn’t mean it / Did I hurt you on accident?’ It’s a song about weakness, and about the natural human tendency to make mistakes at the expense of others, Capelle tells American Songwriter. ‘Originally when I wrote this song, I thought it would go into the vault and never see the light of day,’ she says. ‘As the pre-production process for the album progressed, this song became a crucial, clear piece of the story.’”

““on accident,” Leah Capelle’s newest single, is Part Two of her visual series and the prequel to Part One, “know me better.” Filmed in the same location and featuring the talent from Part One, Capelle and her partner devolve from veiled contentment to an explosive, chaotic fight that is paralleled by their counterparts expressing the true, raw emotions of each scene. As the song escalates, so too does the intensity of the argument and the uninhibited push and pull of the dance.“The connection between the two videos becomes very clear when watching them back to back,” Capelle explains. “‘on accident’ is what happened – the descent into madness; and ‘know me better’ is what happened after – the seven stages of grief.” “on accident” is the third single off Capelle’s upcoming full length record triptych due out this spring. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
Glimmering with the pop/rock vibes we’ve come to adore from HAIM and Tegan and Sara, the video is just as much about letting go as it is the beginning of something new. Capelle is working through the end of a relationship, but something seems to be budding with the girl comforting her. ”

“Following a string of impressive releases, each one paving the way a little more notably for the rising artist, Scott Kirby now launches his latest single – the stunning Cool Water – and it genuinely sees him soar higher than ever.

Leading with a stripped-back and beautifully pure musicality, a simple guitar-led ambiance, an up-close and personal vocal – that beautifully soulful, unmistakable voice – ‘Cool Water’ is the Gospel-soaked Americana ballad 2019 has been waiting for.”