Dreamy and wondrous, seductive and smoldering, Kelsey Abbott’s “Night Vision Goggles” burns bright with raw vulnerability and poetic passion as the Nashville-based singer/songwriter dwells in moments of intimacy and connection, bottling up her love into one bold and breathtaking song.
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Stream: “Night Vision Goggles” – Kelsey Abbott
Maybe in the middle of the night, when darkness wakes and midnight strikes, you’ll whisper, ‘It’ll be alright’…
The warm glow of love shines bold and bright in Kelsey Abbott’s “Night Vision Goggles,” enchanting our ears and setting fire to our hearts.
The last single (and second track) off Abbott’s new EP is a moody, brooding, and achingly beautiful enchantment; the singer/songwriter captures love’s little moments of magic and connection even as that love slowly fades away, slipping from her grasp – but not from her memory. This song is bittersweet, because we know the outcome, but at its core, it’s a celebration of intimacy’s eternal flame. Dreamy and wondrous, seductive and smoldering, “Night Vision Goggles” burns with raw vulnerability and poetic passion as Abbott basks in bygone moments, bottling up her love into one bold and breathtaking song.
We’re sitting in the bathtub
In case the house falls down
Got us two helmets, if worst thing plays out
The lamp from your dad, it isn’t so bad
If i squint my eyes and I tilt my head
I thought I heard you freaking out
Maybe in the middle of the night
When darkness wakes and midnight strikes
You’ll whisper it’ll be alright
Originally released in September, “Night Vision Goggles” is the third and final single taken off Kelsey Abbott’s recently-released sophomore EP The Cabin (independently out now). Following this past spring’s fiery “Weekend Baby” and the heavy, harder-hitting “Focus,” “Night Vision Goggles” is a heat-of-the-moment reverie reflecting on a life shared and memories made together.
It feels like all of the memories are able to live on through this song, which is something I have always loved about songwriting.
Per the artist, it’s “a song about night vision goggles. A song about a storm. A song about the last glimmer of hope. A song about feeling love and loss simultaneously,” as she wrote on the day of its release. Heartfelt and bittersweet lyrics paint a poignant highlight reel of sorts as Abbott channels her visceral emotions into a stunning, spellbinding slow-burner.
Passion and pain collide as she dwells in her own soul’s extremes:
We’re hiding the corner
Power’s just gone out
Night vision goggles, got my own pair now
And I told my mother on the day I met you,
When you were 18, living in a dorm room
You thought you heard me freaking out
Maybe in the middle of the fight
When lions roar and birds take flight
You’ll wrap me up and hold me tight
“‘Night Vision Goggles’ was the second song I wrote for my new project,” Abbott tells Atwood Magazine. “This song is such a time capsule for me, and every time I play it live I feel like I am transported back to the moment I wrote it.”
“I wrote this song when I was in a place of doubt and confusion but simultaneously trying to hold onto a love that was fading,” she explains. “‘Night Vision Goggles’ is a metaphor for being so in love with someone that you wish you could see them even in the dark.”
“The song describes some of my favorite memories from that time in my life, one of them being something as simple as hiding in a bathtub during a storm to stay safe with somebody you love. It feels like all of the memories are able to live on through this song which is something I have always loved about songwriting.”
I don’t wanna live one day without
Midnight talking, memorized your mouth
When the day is over and the night rolls through
Night vision goggles, so I can always see you
Abbott recorded this song with Nashville-based producer Josef Kuhn (AKA Jos) and guitarist Bryce Dubray. “I loved watching this song come to life.,” she says, “and I am excited for people to hear it in the context of the EP, where it feels like the song is just one puzzle piece to an entire story.”
I don’t wanna live one day without midnight talking, memorized your mouth…
Released on November 10, The Cabin is a deeply personal project for Abbott, its five songs tracked in chronological order of how she wrote them over the past two years.
“In a way, you can follow my story of letting go, holding on, freedom, anger, sadness, peace, and the grief of a heartbreak and of the person you once were,” she shares. “One of my favorite parts about songwriting is that a song can keep a memory alive even once it’s passed, and this EP has done that for me in so many ways.”
An undeniable standout in this soul-stirring collection, “Night Vision Goggles” roars to life with inspiring gusto, charm, and quite a bit of churn as Abbott dwells in the deep end of her own fever dream. That flame may not have lasted, but this song will, for her and for anyone who listens, forever speak to what it felt like to be so brutally, beautifully, and unapologetically in love.
Maybe in the middle of the night
When darkness wakes and midnight strikes
You’ll whisper it’ll be alright
Maybe in the middle of the fight
When lions roar and birds take flight
You’ll wrap me up and hold me tight
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Stream: “Night Vision Goggles” – Kelsey Abbott
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© Gabe Drechsler
© Gabe Drechsler
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