Kississippi Bio
Zoe Reynolds, who performs as Kississippi, can turn a sweet song sour with a sudden, razor-sharp line turn. Harnessing self-empowerment to overcome hardship, Reynolds imbues her songs with hope in the face of grief and heartbreak. Though as a child, she dreamed of being in a band — she’d make music videos with dolls and design merch with a 64-box of Crayola crayons — as a teenager she found that it was difficult to be taken seriously in the Philly emo DIY/basement scene. Reynolds knew she had to break into the music scene on her own.
Together with guitarist Colin Kupson, Reynolds wrote and recorded her second EP, 2015’s “We Have No Future, We’re All Doomed,” with Jake Ewald (Modern Baseball, Slaughter Beach, Dog). The album, released on Soft Speak Records, was named after a friend’s yearbook message, and ultimately became a memorial line after their passing. “We Have No Future” ushered in a dark, dream-pop that countered but didn’t overwhelm the act’s folk roots, and highlighted the impending sense of doom adolescents face at the cusp of adulthood.
After parting ways with Kupson post-tour, Reynolds emerged once again as a solo artist occupied with self-love and post-breakup healing. The result of these occupations was “Sunset Blush,” named after both a boxed wine she and her friends drank and their subsequent long, late-night conversations. She recorded the album with friend Kyle Pulley, who acted as a collaborator, at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia. After the album was picked up by a label that later downsized, Reynolds chose to self-release it on a vanity label she named Bug Crusher Records to stay true to the original April 2018 release date. She toured the album with Dashboard Confessional.
Now, she’s turning her eye towards pop as the ultimate catharsis. Reynolds sees music as a source of comfort and commiseration — while she understands pain, she urges listeners to look to the sunshine ahead.
Photo credit: Morgan Kelley
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