V, Kylie - Crash Test Plane (CD) |

When it comes to navigating the path to adulthood, there's no flight plan. You have to try things, make mistakes, and learn from them. As singer-songwriter Kylie Van Slyke -- better known under their stage name Kylie V. -- puts it when talking about their second album Crash Test Plane, "I’m 20 years old. I’ve watched so many things in my life happen to me that I thought were going to be the absolute end, and a week after each of those I’m like, 'Oh my god, I’m fine.'" This kind of self-awareness may seem rare in such a young artist, but like Conor Oberst, Samia, and Christian Lee Hutson before them, Van Slyke's version of indie folk pairs lived-in storytelling with an unmistakable knack for soul-baring. Starting at age 14, Van Slyke wrote songs and played local shows in Vancouver, sparking a creative outpouring that led to self-managing their career, the release of their acclaimed 2021 debut album Big Blue, and signing to Royal Mountain Records. Just how much their music has evolved on Crash Test Plane is evident on songs like "Runaway," where they confront the terror of "falling in love for real for the first time" with caressing sounds and imagery that's downright gory ("What if I regret it and you leave me with a gaping wound?"). "Saying brutally honest, borderline gross lyrics is something that can be so beautiful and personal to me," Van Slyke explains. Though plenty of Crash Test Plane's songs deal with the fallout of falling in love, the singer/songwriter is just as unflinchingly honest about mental health and career goals on the flowing "Golden" and self-sabotage on the ambling warmth of "Song in Open D."

• Format Detail: CD, Digipak, Gatefold
• Format: CD
• Label: Royal Mountain Records
• Catalog Number: CD-RYMR-190