Things that got Kacey Fassett through the Isolation

Meditations on finding sanctuary in solitude with Kacey Fassett; photographed by Meg Weck.

Rising LA-based polymath Kacey Fassett has perfectly encapsulated our broken world of shattered dreams and exploited hearts. Welcome to Drained Drama Queen, available April 8, where the NYU jazz trained artist surveys the intimate apocalypse now of our current state of interpersonal dystopia. An ultra electro pop journey that incorporates flutes, sax and a bevy of stylish synths — Kacey rips out candid passages from journals and adapts them to the craft of contemporary song that embodies the malignance of our shared moment better than any limited run Netflix series ever could.

"DMs" kickstarts the Drained Drama Queen party that mulls through the nebulous worlds of social media messaging, dubious intentions, shutting down the thirst trap seeking lot. "Influencer" bemoans with bubbling keys the lamentations of keeping up online appearances, pondering its worth, effectiveness, reason in a track beset by the fatigue of Instagram projections and the exhaustion from the doom scroll without end. Expertly blending pointed synths with jazz inflected brass tones, Fassett paints portraits of our fractured shared world from tales of disappointment and disillusionment like the heartbreak of “Crushed”. Everything from deadbeat friends to charlatan love interests are explored in a pop art musical treatise on the lack of grounded reality we live in, like a spectacle of fallacious fools pretending to be something/someone else they’re not. The questions of self-doubt and second guessing in reflecting on ill-begotten bonds imbues "In the Trenches", as Kacey cleverly condenses what could be an entire mini-series about maladaptive courtship in the COVID-era on tracks like "West LA".

Aspects of isolation, insecurities and being glued to the phone are motifs throughout Drained Drama Queen as "Thursday" combines all of the items that plague the overactive imagination and mind in an era of brain drain, unmet desires and unrequited aspirations that rule everything within the never-ending stalemate of loneliness. Kacey concludes the EP cycle with "All Alone" that brings it all back home from where it started — at home. Drained Drama Queen is an all too relatable testament to the world at a standstill that we exist in. A place where motion sits and stands in suspended animation, where the needs of the heart reach out into a void that is a malicious minefield of indifference, opportunists and nefarious characters and visions of grandeur running wild in the mind and spirit like a baroque synth pop symphonic suite. Kacey Fassett divulges more details of insight and inspirations from the throes of our global quarantine with the following exclusive reflections:

Things That Got Me Through the Isolation by Kacey Fassett

Bo Burnham’s Inside

I know this is not a unique one, but this special made me feel seen in a way I can’t even accurately articulate. It felt like this special was not only made for my generation, but was made specifically for me, touching on all of the struggles I myself had gone through during the worst of the pandemic: isolation, political frustration, existential dread, staring down the unknown, using laughter as a coping mechanism and then feeling guilty for doing so, and lastly questioning whether making art was even something a person should waste their and others’ time doing. This special will always have a chokehold on me and I feel like the music from it heavily inspired this EP.

Iced Coffee

I have always been an anomaly with coffee; I love the taste but am not affected by the caffeine. I can drink a cold brew and go to sleep. Because of this I have absolutely no restraint when it comes to coffee. Morning, noon or night I crave it, and the ritual of going out to get my daily iced coffee has become the only thing threading together my feeble sanity.

Cereal, stemware and Kacey Fassett; photographed by Meg Weck.

Bookstores

There is really nowhere else quite as magical as a bookstore. I have always been an avid reader, but ever since I moved to NYC at 18 bookstores have become my sanctuaries. Stressed? Go to the bookstore. Lonely? Go to the bookstore. Content with any and all things? Still, go to the bookstore. There is nothing like being surrounded by hundreds of potential experiences and the possibility that the next book I read could expand my worldview and work its way into the art that I make.

The quarantine comforts of Kacey Fassett; photographed by Meg Weck.

Brian Jordan Alvarez

If you don’t know who Brian Jordan Alvarez is, please do yourself a favor and go search him on TikTok, or if you refuse to make a TikTok at least go find him on Instagram. A comedic genius and master of any and all accents you have heard or can imagine, BJA is very literally the only person who could make me laugh on some of the darkest days of the pandemic. Not only is Brian hilarious, but he is also so sweet to his fans and has reposted every story of mine that I have featured a video of his on. Just an all around hilarious and uplifting person. Go watch all his videos and get to know all his characters (especially Erik!)

Mannequin Pussy

I discovered Mannequin Pussy through my best friend Isabelle, who has impeccable taste in music and finds the best indie bands way before anyone else. Not only is their music amazing but the lead singer Missy writes about topics a lot of other musicians and bands shy away from. If I hadn’t had Patience and Perfect to belt along to in the car, I’m not sure how I would have ever begun to process the last couple of years. They were also the first band I saw live when shows came back, and that will always mean more to me than I can express.

Kacey Fassett’s Drained Drama Queen will be available April 8 via Bandcamp and everywhere