The London-based songwriter makes a coolly confident debut in her hypnotising mixtape Studying Kaeto is like studying an abstract painting: the more attention you pay, the better you’ll understand her. At first, she’s not easy to read – going to clown school isn’t common for your average 20-something singer, and her lyrics often go beyond typical ruminations on love and heartbreak. Off the back of supporting Lauren Mayberry to The Last Dinner Party after her 2022 debut single ‘Good Morning’, ‘Intro’ wastes no time in drawing back the curtain on Kaeto’s artistry.
READ MORE: Kaeto: surrealist artist bringing a punk spirit to modern trip-hop Opening track ‘U R Mine’, a song about Kaeto’s strengthened relationship with her body, is a tender start to aid a new era, her way of beckoning us into a safe corner of her mind. “ It speaks to me / Hold your breath / Feel my skin / Until death ”, she breathes over the top of a ringing keyboard riff, the misty intimacy of her words mustering a quiet power. But Kaeto’s warmth quickly cools with ‘Distance’, a track smothered by damp organ and bass drum.
Kaeto’s weightless vocal skates over the top as though, as the title suggests, she’s distancing herself from a threat that perhaps resides in her own self-consciousness (“ You’re covered in pain / I know you hide it ”). She pulls off the icy mood in a different way with ‘Hero’, whose fanned-out, synthesised arpeggios showcase her electro-pop side.