I have one word for the debut album Diving Into the Arms of the Divine by SPELLES: Perfection.
I almost wrote divine, but it felt cliché to write that, but if I’m honest, the album is also divine.
If music is a religion, then SPELLES are the prophets, and Diving Into the Arms of the Divine is the gospel. The duo of Kathryn Baar and Luc Laurent have crafted an eleven track soul experience that ebbs and flows with fragility and strength. That beautiful ebb and flow is needed with explosive and dynamic songs like “Night Terrors”, “Holy Hells”, and “Diaspora, the Horses”and pressurised and constrained songs like “Beginning and Endings”, “Flesh and Bone”, and “Double Life”.
The duo’s exploration of light and dark through a melody and lyrical lens allows Diving into the Arms of the Divine to not only be an auditory experience but a cinematic one. SPELLES creates musical foundations that haunt, inspire, and provide moments of stillness. The lyrics are the ripple effect of a pebble being dropped in water. They are dismantling fear, dispensing strength, bestowing wisdom and grace. The voice of Kathryn Baar is the beacon in the dark and the hand that guides one through the darkest corners of their soul.
Whether SPELLES is looking at the intricacies of human emotion or the conflict between hope and hopelessness, they do so with ease and brilliance. Navigating human emotion through rhythmic and eerie bass, soulful and powerful vocals, there is but one option when listening to Diving Into the Arms of the Divine by SPELLES and that is do not give up.
Maybe SPELLES didn’t set out to create a spiritual reckoning for the soul with Diving Into the Arms of the Divine, but it sure as hell will bring one to their knees and force one to look deep within their soul. That’s the magic of the album…there are songs that are the pep talk one needs to carry on, to be inspired, to create a self revolution, or to simply be at peace with one’s self.
SPELLES have effortlessly merged their own souls into Diving Into the Arms of the Divine, creating an album that commands and demands attention. Each song is powerful and emotional, with lush and atmospheric music and lyrics that speak to the heart and soul.
Diving Into the Arms of the Divine by SPELLES is divinely perfect.
MUST LISTEN TRACKS: All 11 tracks.
