When Chrystia Cabral first conceived of “Portrait of My Heart,” the title track and spiritual core of her fourth full-length as SPELLLING, it was an eight-minute, multi-part epic, with a lengthy intro section inspired by The Cure. The grand sweep of the original arrangement made the song feel like an extension of Cabral’s previous album, the lavishly orchestrated The Turning Wheel. By contrast, the version that appears as the opening track on Portrait of My Heart comes in at a shade under five minutes, with an insistent drumbeat and an infectious earworm of a chorus, with Cabral belting “I don’t belong here” repeatedly over chugging rhythm guitar and an exuberant keyboard line.
That journey from first draft to final incarnation has a lot to say about Cabral’s evolution as an artist and as a person in the four years since The Turning Wheel was released. Portrait of My Heart marks a bold step into the future for the SPELLLING, one that sees Cabral pushing the project into new sonic territory while retaining the singular voice that has made her one of the most exciting songwriters of the past decade.
“When the lyrics for ‘Portrait’ came together, it really started to morph everything in this more energetic direction, instead of this more whimsical landscape that I’ve worked with before. It started to become more driven, higher energy, more focused,” Cabral explains. “And I have a big affection for it because of that. I love that it feels like it withstood transformation, which is something I always want to aspire to with things that I make. I want them to have this sense of timelessness. It could exist like this, or like that, or like this, but this is the one for right now. It felt cool to think about doing something bolder and with more energy.”
Portrait of My Heart positively vibrates with that energy. From the title track to the pop-punkish banger “Alibi,” the slyly metallic “Drain,” the ecstatic “Love Ray Eyes,” and beyond, the album is the most immediate SPELLLING release to date. With her “Mystery School” backing band playing behind her, Cabral taps into a directness that feels new to the project. It’s not that the scope has shrunk since the grandiosity of The Turning Wheel; these songs simply demanded a different set of tools.
“I always want to prioritize the sound and build from there, and the sound didn’t need that grander, elaborate approach,” Cabral says. “We have the core band. We have drums, we have guitar, and we have synth. And that’s really what’s driving it.”
Tour Dates
| Date | Details | Venue | City | With | Tickets | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/17/25 |
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San Francisco, California | |||||||||
| 08/15/25 - 08/17/25 |
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Field of Vision in Meadow Creek
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Buena Vista, Colorado |
Solo Set
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| 08/27/25 |
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Sacramento, California |
whine
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| 08/29/25 |
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Portland, Oregon |
whine
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| 08/31/25 |
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Seattle, Washington | |||||||||
| 09/01/25 |
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Vancouver, British Columbia |
whine
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News
Oakland musician Spellling’s new album conjures mosh pits at S.F. show
San Francisco Chronicle
There was no trepidation to be found during Spellling’s set at Great American, where Cabral’s body-bending theatrics and captivating command of the stage stood in stark contrast to the insecurities she sings about on her newest album.
SPELLLING – ‘Portrait Of My Heart’ review: the art pop artist turns to loud, intergalactic grunge
NME
‘Portrait Of My Heart’ shows Cabral, who has spent her nearly decade-long career building her own universe, not relishing comfort but raging against its vast expanse
The edgy new heights of SPELLLING’s panoramic mysticism
The Line of Best Fit
Nevertheless, she describes Portrait as “a creative resurgence” and “a way to bridge the gap” between SPELLLING the artist and Chrystia the person: more forthright, more honest, less cloaked in mystery. The price of a small identity crisis in the process is one she’s come to terms with. Through asking the big questions like “Who am I?” and “What are my relationships?”, she was able to explore romance and intimacy “in new ways” that reflect on and address the changes in herself. She describes feeling “a big sense of relief” from coming to the end, as if the portrait’s completion marked a pivotal moment, a return to self. “There’s Tia and there’s SPELLLING,” she says firmly. “This album is much more personal, it’s much more Tia.”
SPELLLING — ‘Alibi’
Stereogum
Last month, SPELLLING announced her new album Portrait Of My Heart and released the gripping title track, which was one of our favorite songs of the week. Today, she’s back with another beautiful banger titled “Alibi.”
“Alibi” was originally a piano ballad, which is hard to imagine. Much like “Portrait Of My Heart,” “Alibi” is an exuberant, triumphant explosion of sound. Listen below.
The 5 Best Songs Of The Week
Stereogum
02 – SPELLLING – “Portrait Of My Heart”
SPELLLING has a knack for making music that sounds like it’s from another galaxy. “Portrait Of My Heart” is Chrystia Cabral’s newest otherworldly tune — taken from her just-announced new album of the same title — and it’s as fun as it is celestial. With enchanting strings and a cathartic chorus, “Portrait Of My Heart” serves as a cinematic, urgent anthem about alienation. It’s the best possible first preview of Portrait Of My Heart. –Danielle
SPELLLING – “Portrait Of My Heart”
Stereogum
For Portrait Of My Heart, Cabral assembled a band with Wyatt Overson on guitar, Patrick Shelley on drums, and Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass. It has Drew Vandenberg, Rob Bisel, and Psymun on production, and features special guests like Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi, Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory, and Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous. “Portrait Of My Heart” is a bewitching first taste; the song is a sweet indie-pop epic, even stronger paired with the Ambar Navarro-directed music video of Cabral dancing and singing in her bedroom, opening up a portal to another world. Fall under her spell below.
Spellling Announces New Album Portrait of My Heart, Shares Video: Watch
Pitchfork
Spellling has announced a new album: Portrait of My Heart is out March 28 via Sacred Bones, and it marks Chrystia Cabral’s first truly new full-length since her 2021 LP The Turning Wheel. Cabral has also shared lead single and title track “Portrait of My Heart,” along with a music video directed by Ambar Navarro.
SPELLLING announces 2025 tour
Brooklyn Vegan
SPELLLING has announced her first tour since 2023. The “Portrait of My Heart” tour begins in San Francsico on April 4 and wraps up in Reno on May 19, stopping in Los Angeles, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and more. According to a press release, she has “brand new songs” to perform, and you can see all dates below.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s so far
Paste Magazine
10. Spellling: The Turning Wheel (2021)
In the first half of a decade which saw the rise of many diaristic singer-songwriters, the indie world still struggles with whimsy or theatricality as concepts. Yet, Oakland art pop multi-instrumentalist Tia Cabral crafted one of the most ambitious, existential sleeper hits of the past five years by operating in a fantasy world of her own. Centered around her distinctive soprano cutting through lush, immaculately produced walls of harp, prog guitars, woodwinds and strings, The Turning Wheel is half paean to the natural world, half chilling depiction of isolation outside of it. From the pulsing lovesickness of “Always” to the icy synth showcase of “Queen of Wands” to the grandiose centerpiece of “Boys at School,” she carves out one mini-opera after the other, dazzling us one breath and haunting us the next. For all the critical darlings singing plaintive, poetic lines over acoustic guitars, few moments will still cut like Cabral’s delivery of “I’m meaner than you think, and I’m not afraid of how lonely it’s going to be” by the decade’s end. —Elise Soutar
Interview With SPELLLING
Synth History
The incredible Tia Cabral, aka SPELLLING, answers some questions about gear, inspirations, Iggy Pop and more!
Artists You Should Know: SPELLING Returns with an Enchanting New Album “SPELLING & the Mystery School”
Grimy Goods
The new record arrives overflowing with resplendent emotion, draped in enthralling instrumentals. If this is your first introduction to Cabral’s spellbinding music — prepare to be whisked away into a realm of enchanting melodic possibilities.
SPELLLING played Elsewhere with Rahill (pics, video)
Brooklyn Vegan
SPELLLING released a new album, SPELLLING & The Mystery School, in August, a collection of reworked songs from throughout her discography, and she’s on a brief tour supporting it. She stopped in Brooklyn on Tuesday night (10/17) for a show at Elsewhere with Habibi leader Rahill, where she and her band delivered theatrical renditions of fan favorites, including “Little Deer,” “Always,” and otherwordly opus “Boys At School.” She ended the night with a couple of new songs. See attendee-taken video clips from her set, and pictures from the whole night below.
Bandcamp Essential Releases, August 25, 2023
Bandcamp
The Mystery School takes listeners into a rich musical experience. This new album from Chrystia Cabral takes a nontraditional route by reimagining songs from Spelling’s discography.
Interview: SPELLLING Unravels the Mystery
Range
Inspired by childhood fairy tales, early Christian fables, and Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tia Cabral is one of the most captivating artists working in music today.
New Music Friday: This week’s essential new albums
Fader
Chrystia Cabral a.k.a. SPELLLING has already proven herself a one-of-one singer-songwriter in modern music — a soul diva beamed from planet Kate Bush — with three excellent albums released since 2017.
SPELLLING Walks Us Through Her New LP of Reinterpretations SPELLLING & the Mystery School
Flood Magazine
With the LP out now via Sacred Bones, Chrystia Cabral shares the origins of both the original tracks from her first three records and their re-recordings.
SPELLLING Leans Into Fantasy to Find Her Sound — and Herself
KQED
With algorithms constantly quantifying our tastes and habits, it’s freeing to remember that little is truly known about some dimensions of the human experience. SPELLLING turns to her most trusted divination tools to tap into the spiritual realm: her synthesizer, her tarot cards and her intuition.
SPELLLING & the Mystery School is a Glamorous Recasting of a Rising Star’s Career
Paste Magazine
Chrystia Cabral’s latest project reimagines the greatest hits off her three critically acclaimed LPs.
Album Review: SPELLLING & the Mystery School
Pitchfork
As SPELLLING, Chrystia Cabral dances the line between straightforward dream pop and aquatic, experimental electronic folk, creating music that both roils the soul and inspires whimsical daydreams. She expanded upon her tactile sound on 2021’s audacious The Turning Wheel, using rich instrumentation to animate her folkloric stories. Working with her touring band on new album SPELLLING & the Mystery School, Cabral reshapes previous album cuts with fresh arrangements, giving them the rhythmic, freeform feel of live versions. Her voice has never sounded better, even as some of the album makes you want to turn back to the delights of her charmingly shambling earlier work.
Spellling Spellling & the Mystery School Review: Unraveling Life’s Mysteries
Slant Magazine
With a vibrant kaleidoscope of sounds and ethereal ambiance, the singer brings both her fantasy world and reality to life.
Chrystia Cabral’s Spellling & the Mystery School is a collection of songs from throughout her career as Spellling, but with a twist, as each track has undergone a complete reimagination. The already eerie “Under the Sun,” from 2019’s Mazy Fly, has been masterfully reworked into an even eerier sci-fi ballad with an ominous string arrangement and an interlude punctuated by synth flashes, while “Phantom Farewell,” from 2017’s Pantheon of Me, beefs up some of the song’s original sonic distortions for a bigger, grander sound.
ALBUM OF THE DAY: SPELLLING, “SPELLLING & the Mystery School”
Bandcamp
The 10 Albums We’re Most Excited About in August
Paste Magazine
Oakland singer/songwriter and experimentalist SPELLLING is following up her 2021 masterpiece The Turning Wheel this August with SPELLLING & The Mystery School, a collection of tracks that surf between minimalism, glitchy percussive rhythm and hypnotic pianistic patterns. Full of mysticism and drama and haunting, evocative exploration, The gravity of SPELLLING’s songwriting is immense and, in turn, she makes left-field pop music that is both alien and ambitious. SPELLING & The Mystery School is on our radar because, after teaser singles “Cherry” and “Under the Sun,” it’s shaping up to be one of the best things she’s made—which says a great deal, given that The Turning Wheel was one of the very best records of 2021
SPELLLING shares new song, reveals Through The Looking Glass lineup
The Fader
Chrystia Cabral (SPELLLING) has shared the third single from her next album, SPELLLING & the Mystery School, due out August 25 via Sacred Bones. The record reintroduces the backing ensemble that joined Cabral for her most recent full-length, 2021’s The Turning Wheel, and comprises full-band re-recordings of tracks from across Cabral’s career: The original version of today’s track, “Hard To Please (Reprise),” comes from her 2019 breakout LP, Mazy Fly. And it follows the forthcoming record’s joint lead singles, “Cherry” (a rework of “Choke Cherry Horse” from 2017’s Pantheon of Me) and “Under The Sun,” another flipped Mazy Fly cut.
All The Best New Indie Music From This Week
Uproxx
Eerie artist Spellling — real name Chrystia Cabral — received recognition for her idiosyncratic 2021 masterwork The Turning Wheel, and these new songs “Cherry” and “Under The Sun” prove she hasn’t lost her haunted appeal. “Cherry” twinkles and broods and builds with unsettling whispers, growing into an evil anthem, sounding like a scene from a horror movie.
Spellling Announces New Album, Shares Songs: Listen
Pitchfork
Spellling (aka Chrystia Cabral) has announced a new album: Spellling & the Mystery School is a collection of new versions of songs from across her discography that she recorded with her touring band. The full-length arrives August 25 via Sacred Bones. Listen to tracks from the LP, “Cherry” and “Under the Sun,” below.
SPELLLING announces new album SPELLLING & the Mystery School
The Fader
“For the tour behind her excellent 2021 album The Turning Wheel, SPELLLING performed alongside a full band called the Mystery School, giving new dimensions to the experimental pop artist’s work. If you didn’t get a chance to see those shows, SPELLLING will soon bring the experience to a new studio album called SPELLLING & the Mystery School. Out August 25 via Sacred Bones, the album will feature re-recordings of songs from across Chrystia Cabral’s discography as SPELLLING.”
Spellling Magick
East Bay Express
“Ominously distorted minimal synth chords bang underneath a whooshing chant cranked on my best speakers while I think about how best to describe this music. The artist’s name is Spellling because that is what she does, cast spells.”
Creating A World Just for Her: The Charismatic Spellling comes to Songbyrd
District Fray
“So often, there will be an article out in the world that touts an artist as being groundbreaking or revolutionizing the music world around them. And while that acclaim is great and gives merit to a plethora of new and experimental artists, what really struck me about Oakland artist Spellling is how she doesn’t try to revolutionize this existing world. If anything, she works double time to invent her own.”
4 concerts to catch in the D.C. area over the next several days
The Washington Post
Spellling — real name: Chrystia “Tia” Cabral — knows how to sing in delicate whispers, but her elocution can contradict that daintiness. She likes to lean into the drama of her songs, elongating words by overemphasizing certain syllables — a playful antithesis to the articulation-isn’t-important attitude that prevails across so much of today’s pop music.
Spellling Announces North American Tour, Shares New “Queen of Wands”
Pitchfork
‘Spellling has announced a North American tour in support of her 2021 LP The Turning Wheel with a new video for “Queen of Wands.” After a handful of summer festival dates—including Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15—Chrystia Cabral heads out on her first headlining tour in August and October.’
SPELLLING Announces North American Tour, Shares Video for “Queen of Wands”
Under The Radar
‘The Turning Wheel came out last year via Sacred Bones, and was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2021. Listen to our podcast interview with Cabral, where she discusses the album.’
NPR Music’s 50 Best Albums of 2021 – The Turning Wheel
NPR
‘On her third album as Spellling, the Bay Area-based wizardess Chrystia Cabral employs the language of myth, magic and fancy to illuminate her reality as an empathic artist negotiating the realities of a world that’s multifariously on fire.’
SASHA GEFFEN’S BEST MUSIC OF 2021 – The Turning Wheel
Art Forum
‘Chrystia Cabral’s music encircles scenes of love and harmony with the threat of what lurks beyond their light: wolves at the edge of town, snapping at the gates. ‘
The 8 Best Music Videos of June 2021
Pitchfork
‘The orchestral title track from Tia Cabral’s third album as SPELLLING is plenty dreamy on its own, but the woodsy, self-directed video neatly rounds off her fairytale vision. ‘
SPELLLING is a Conduit of the Divine on Orchestral Pop Concept LP The Turning Wheel
Audio Femme
‘The elegant collection of twelve songs builds on the bewitching synth-based sound she’s consistently refined since 2017’s Pantheon of Me, evolving in terms of lyrical complexity, sonic richness and conceptual depth. Born largely of the past year spent in isolation, these shifts all serve to signal the exponential potential of Cabral’s creative capabilities.’
SPELLLING The Turning Wheel
Pitchfork
‘The myth-skewing, Oakland-based artist is a chameleonic pop singer on her third album. Whimsical and urgent, these are fairy tales meant to wake us up.
How Dracula, Tarot Cards, and Drinking in the Shower Inspired SPELLLING’s New Album
Pitchfork
‘Tia Cabral is a shapeshifter, with an eye and ear tilting toward the fantastical. In the visuals for her experimental pop project SPELLLING, she has appeared as an entity dipped in glittery goo, a rodeo princess, and a silver-faced harlequin. In her new short film for “Turning Wheel”—the title track of her enchanting new album—Cabral leads a gaggle of circus-chic misfits up a grassy knoll, a butterfly perched on her lavender cheek.’
Album of the Day: SPELLLING, “The Turning Wheel”
Bandcamp
‘The Turning Wheel is inspired by a multitude of genres, “from soul to psych to pop to noise” according to the record’s liner notes, which she knits together to gradually transport listeners from an airy high to a heavy low. It’s all done in a theatrical fashion, each scene connected by raw emotion.’
The 11 projects you should stream now – SPELLLING
The Fader
‘We loved “Little Deer,” the immutable lead single from Oakland avant-pop artist Spellling. Her new project is entirely self-produced and enlists the talents of 31 different musicians.’
9 New Albums You Should Listen to Now: Tyler, the Creator, Faye Webster, Lucy Dacus, SPELLLING, and More
Pitchfork
‘Chrystia Cabral’s new album as SPELLLING was led by the single “Little Deer”—a song she called a “thesis track” of the LP because “it accomplishes this strong impression of theater that I was striving for with the album as a whole.” Learn more in the new feature “How Dracula, Tarot Cards, and Drinking in the Shower Inspired SPELLLING’s New Album.”’
SPELLLING
Analogue Music
‘The Turning Wheel, SPELLLING’s latest work, is exactly that—a mesmerizing, inventive, and infectious work sprawling in beautiful new directions from past acclaimed albums like Mazy Fly. The Sacred Bones release drops June 25 and deserves to be heard by the masses…’
THE 33 BEST ALBUMS OF 2021 SO FAR: SPELLLING – THE TURNING WHEEL
Treble Zine
‘An album of contrasts and juxtaposition, The Turning Wheel is an exploration of cycles and coefficients, its two halves comprising a set of bright orchestral pop against an underbelly of big-production gothic dirges.’
Album of the Week: SPELLLING – THE TURNING WHEEL
Treble Zine
‘Little Deer,” the first single from Cabral’s third album The Turning Wheel, proves what she’s capable of with a lot more room to stretch out and build upon the already captivating foundation she’s established. Dramatic piano chords ring out against a cinematic array of strings, with twinkly synths climbing toward starlight. It’s a stunner from the outset, but by the chorus it becomes truly breathtaking…’
The 51 Most Anticipated Albums of Summer 2021
Pitchfork
‘The Turning Wheel is Chrystia Cabral’s third album as SPELLLING, and it marks a turn toward lush orchestration (featuring no fewer than 31 collaborative musicians) and fanciful storytelling.’
The 50 Best Albums Of 2021 So Far
Stereogum
‘As SPELLLING, Chrystia Cabral has been making darkly alluring experimental pop for years. The Turning Wheel maintains the darkness, the allure, and Cabral’s experimental touch, yet she has turned up the pop quotient significantly here.’
SPELLLING – “Turning Wheel”
Stereogum
‘SPELLLING is releasing her new album, The Turning Wheel, in a couple weeks. We’ve heard two tracks from it so far, “Little Dear” and “Boys At School,” and today we’re getting the title track, which sounds like an elaborate ’60s pop fantasia with an appropriately theatrical video to match.’
SPELLLING announces her third album, The Turning Wheel
Resident Advisor
‘The Bay Area artist will share her third full-length via the Brooklyn-based label on June 25th. The Turning Wheel draws on synth pop, R&B and soul and sees Cabral co-producing and orchestrating an ensemble of 31 musicians, including banjo, harp, bassoon and trombone. Originally meant to be released last September, the twelve-track LP was delayed due to the pandemic and resulted in instrumentalists recording in socially-distanced and remote studio sessions.’
SPELLLING Shares New Song “Boys At School” The Turning Wheel Due Out June 25 on Sacred Bones
Under The Radar
‘In a press release Cabral explains that the new song “steps back into my younger self, my teenage self to voice my angst, desires and disillusionments. I knew when I created the main motif on the piano that it was striking something really raw and both delicate and fierce. The notes just immediately transported me to the era of my youth, of this time when you are really beginning to confront the mirror of yourself to the outside world.”
SPELLLING – “Boys At School”
Stereogum
‘The Bay Area’s Chrystia Cabral is back with a new SPELLLING single, “Boys At School,” from her forthcoming album The Turning Wheel. This follows the lead single, “Little Dear,” which previewed a more upbeat, poppy direction. This new track starts as an eccentric piano ballad with haunting vocals and atmospheric synths, and gradually transforms into an intense indie rock anthem.’
10 Best Songs of the Week: SPELLLING, Lucy Dacus, Ora the Molecule, Twin Shadow, and More
Under The Radar
‘On Wednesday, SPELLLING (aka Chrystia Cabral) announced the release of her third studio album, The Turning Wheel, due for release on June 25 via Sacred Bones after nearly a year of delays. Cabral also shared the album’s first track and lead single “Little Deer.” Check out the album’s tracklist and cover art here.’
Assets
