Sparrow by Tim Shiel, Kaitlin Keegan, Leah Kardos

Tim Shiel shares new track “Sparrow” featuring Kaitlin Keegan and Leah Kardos, out via his own long-running label, Spirit Level.

Following celebrated collaborations with Mindy Meng Wang 王萌, Genesis Owusu & Braille Face, Sparrow is an emotive piano-driven slow-burner that exemplifies Shiel's deeply collaborative process, and signals the start of a prolific new era.

Returning is previous collaborator Leah Kardos, a Meanjin/Brisbane-born London-based pianist/composer and sound engineer who also contributed to Shiel’s acclaimed soundtrack for indie adventure game The Gardens Between.

Kardos’ delicate piano is fused with atmospheric sound design and soft UKG-indebted beats, topped by a soaring pop vocal from Perth-born Melbourne-based songwriter Kaitlin Keegan. Kaitlin’s talent for elevating the everyday is turned sideways on Sparrow, peeking out through evocative lyrical fragments like “Outline contours of your soul / the shape makes me feel whole.”

Speaking of the track Tim Shiel says:

"I have always loved the way Leah plays and how she makes her piano sound so intimate and human. This one started when I heard Leah’s track Contact Mic on a compilation of beautiful music put out on Bigo & Twigetti. I became obsessed with the composition of that song and the way it unfolds with intention but also a sense of wide open space. I felt really compelled to see if I could take it somewhere, and eventually that led me to Kaitlin.

Kaitlin’s voice has a stunning purity and directness that embeds reality in everything she sings, and as a songwriter she has a gift for elevating the everyday into something majestic, and that’s a rare gift. In the end, I think we have a song that leaves you thinking about what you want from life, about what’s important. But it also just simply floats if that’s all you need from it. I love when a piece of music can have a few different access points like that - it shapes itself to you and how you feel, not the other way around.”

Human who makes music. You might know me from that thing.