With a timeless folk sound at its core, UK singer-songwriter Kitty O’Neal explores the uneasy territory of romantic uncertainty on recent single “Not At The Same Speed,” capturing the tendency to overanalyze whether someone feels a relationship with the same intensity. Her intimate songwriting provides a natural setting for that emotional uncertainty, as the track considers the vulnerability of lowering your guard and wondering what might happen when two people experience love at different speeds.
Softly melodic piano pairs with O’Neal’s resonating delivery as the track opens. Vintage-sounding piano expands to a modern clarity as her poetic lyrical depictions ensue, lamenting “we love each other, just not at the same speed.” Separate interpretations of “forever” are signaled as a subdued yet impactful Hammond M3 organ lingers, eventually mounting a brisker ascent with touches of twangy guitars. “Will you still want me, if I let you see inside?” O’Neal’s delivery continues, artfully capturing the precipice in a relationship where truths and true selves emerge past the initial smitten period.
The hope for an “easier way, to tell you how I feel today” then dazzles into a magnetic whistling effect, simultaneously harmonious and thematically alluring, conveying the anxiety involved in pondering how to communicate true emotions, especially when the other person seems on a different wavelength. The final minute then invigorates, infusing soaring electric guitar and brisk rhythms alongside that whistling presence. “Not At The Same Speed” is a standout track that has us firmly anticipating O’Neal’s upcoming full-length album, Here I Go Again Feeling It All.
Pre-order the upcoming album on Bandcamp, here, ahead of its November 13th release date.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
