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Flailing Orbits

Anna McClellan

2018

Flailing Orbits

Release Date:  2018

By Pitchfork

Reviewed January 26, 2018

From Anna McClellan’s upcoming album, Yes and No

The Omaha singer-songwriter Anna McClellan began her forthcoming sophomore album, Yes and No, during a four-month road trip across the country. Her dreamy folk-pop songs encapsulate the ambling thoughts and angst that accompanies rootless highway rumination. “Flailing Orbits,” a track off that record, takes those concerns to a loftier place, comparing her current romantic infatuation to the energy of celestial bodies orbiting each other. Just under two minutes long, the song tumbles forward, McClellan’s vocals soaring over a pounded piano line and breezy guitars. Her forceful cadence, paired with the cosmic imagery, could be hyperbolic were it not for intimate lines like, “My spirit can’t see past your astrology sign,” which land like self-aware punchlines about how easily life-consuming romantic feelings can be changed by something as seemingly trivial as a misaligned horoscope. Ultimately, McClellan chooses her own trajectory, deciding she wouldn’t mind if “our stars twinkling never intermingle again.” Whether she’s barrelling down an interstate or outgrowing a lover, McClellan’s music captures the thrill of changing emotions.

7:00 PM · Jan 26, 2018 · 1 Views