Kendra Sells and Her Upcoming Solo EP

By Samantha Oesch
Music Journalist

Pandemic life has been drastically different, but it has not stopped Austin-based solo artist Kendra Sells from creating. Sells, singer of local neo-soul group Blumoon, has stepped out of her comfort zone in writing her upcoming EP “All In Your Head” and performing solo gigs.

Branching out to play solo has been a new experience for Sells. She has always been “DIY” with creating album art and merch for Blumoon. Now she is producing her own rough demos and experimenting with sound.

While many music venues are still closed, places with outdoor areas have given opportunities to artists like Sells to perform. She has recently performed at the South Congress Hotel as her first real-life gig since the pandemic started. Blumoon has also made their first in-person appearance since the pandemic at Meanwhile Brewing Company in late January of this year.

“I was nervous, but it wasn’t like a situation that felt unsafe,” Sells said. “It was just kind of sad to just not be able to enjoy the show in the way you’d want to enjoy a show.”

Although Sells’s solo show was in a socially distanced outdoor environment, Sells felt emotionally distant from her audience due to safety precautions.

“We distanced ourselves six feet away with our masks, waving [and] trying to converse in that way, and it made me honestly really sad,” Sells said.

Sells’s music current rough releases are exclusively on Bandcamp and each song will be remastered for the upcoming 7-track EP. Her latest single “U n Me” was released in December 2020. Accompanied by a heavily distorted guitar riff with a grungy swing, Sells incorporates 808 beats and dark melodies.

“Here and there I’ve just been putting out loose ideas,” said Sells. “I do plan on fleshing those out and making those more solidified and be releasing them officially.”

Check out Kendra Sells’s singles for her upcoming EP exclusively on Bandcamp and be on the lookout for “All in Your Head” to be released this Spring.

Featured image by Kendra Sells.