Kacey Fassett

In Drained Drama Queen, Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Kacey Fassett examines the loneliness and confusion that comes with being single and living alone in the midst of a global pandemic, along with the repercussions of having a social life that survives mostly online.

As a trained jazz musician who attended New York University’s jazz studies program, Kacey combines her knowledge of jazz harmony with her deep love for indie pop to irresistible effect. Her sophomore EP opens with “DMs,”a dark synth heavy track that wrestles with a failed online romance through forward vocals, processed saxophone and found sounds, which were collected on her first road trip after more than a year in quarantine.

“DMs” leads straight into “Influencer,” an exploration into the abyss of online validation in the form of career advancement. “Am I wasting my time trying to find / a way to get recognized?” Kacey sings. It’s a bleak chorus paired with rich synthesizers, dark bass and thick, crunchy chords in both the instrumentals and vocals. Both lighter in songwriting and tone, “Crushed” approaches romance with echo guitar,layered vocals and playful lyrics such as:  “6’3”, funny, maybe he’d be into me.” It’s a lightness that doesn’t linger, as “In the Trenches” finds Kacey back in a more sonically brooding space.

What begins as a meditation on unrequited love transforms into a manic episode that spirals into “West LA,” a sparser, more vulnerable track that adds to the journey aspect of the EP. The song opens with flute, sax and vocals- a timbre change from the synthesizer heavy tracks prior- and features a single, clear vocal line. The penultimate song, “Thursday,” featured on KEXP, takes us through a typical day stuck at home, alone, and checking our phone. “I’ll do anything to feel something” Kacey sings dramatically after a full verse detailing her ennui-filled day. Closer “All Alone” comes full circle as Kacey laments quarantine life stuck in her one room apartment “talking out loud just to hear a sound,” returning to the heavy synth characteristic of the previous tracks and fades out to one final found sound.

Drained Drama Queen is an astute glimpse into the minutiae of a Millenial navigating a global pandemic while living alone in a tiny apartment at a moment in time when online interaction is more amplified than ever and romance is scarce. How could we not go a little insane?