Premiere: Brooklyn’s Kirsten Izer Waxes Bittersweet in Stripped Song “One Year”

The unveiled confession of an aching heart, Kirsten Izer’s “One Year” is a stripped-down, late night intermingling of introspection, sadness, and love’s loss.

Stream: “One Year” – Kirsten Izer

“We don’t actually own anything, but we want to,” sings a plaintive Kirsten Izer in her intimate new single. The unveiled confession of an aching heart, “One Year” is a stripped-down, late night intermingling of introspection, sadness, and love’s loss that says all it needs to say without glitz and glamour: If poetry can dazzle, then this song has a brilliant hue.

It’s our one year anni
But you don’t love me
You were never one for
Vulnerability
I was the one to make the jump
Bite the seed, swallow it up
Go for a drive, Uber
Pink skies, blue words

We don’t actually own anything but we want to
But we want to, oh, but we want to, oh yeah

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “One Year,” Kirsten Izer’s first single of 2019 (independently out Friday, September 20, 2019). The indie singer/songwriter project of New Jersey-born, Brooklyn-based 23-year-old Kirsten Spruch, Kirsten Izer has a way of singing directly to our deepest feelings. Her first release in three years finds her mixing dark and light elements in a stark exploration of her own doubts and uncertainties surrounding intimacy, the idea of being alone, the unknowable future, and a recent relationship’s collapse!

And why do we break so slow?
I don’t know
Why do we wait so long?

It’s our one year anni
But you don’t want me
I was never one for reality

You were the one to spot the fall
Always come back, you’ve seen it all
Ignore the faults, embrace the fun
Hold onto the beach, but we know it’s done

“Coincidentally, I wrote this song just about a year ago. I was in an unhealthy relationship that very much became ‘on-again, off-again’ for the entire last year, and while I fought for it to continue that whole time, I knew in my heart it was over. And I was okay with it,” Kirsten Izer tells Atwood Magazine. The first verse’s line, “It’s our one year anni, but you don’t love me,” stings more and more as the weight of Izer’s reality sets in.

She continues, “It’s funny how we can continue on with things or people who aren’t good for us purely out of comfort or fear. I was going through a tough time in my life, so I felt like if I let go of this person, I wouldn’t have that safety net to fall into anymore. At the time, it was all too blurry to even realize that the relationship was what was making me so sad — the blue words, the lovelessness, being there out of convenience, desperately holding onto things we used to like.”

“I became aware of all the patterns when I finally stepped out of it, so I wrote them down and ‘One Year’ was the result. I used to feel silly and insecure when listening to this song, but now it serves as a reminder that because of that experience, I know exactly what I want. I’m a pretty sentimental person (I mean, clearly), so taking a trip down memory lane and remembering the pain I went through for such a long time will always be interesting, and it will always remind me that I’m in a better place now.”

Taking a trip down memory lane and remembering the pain I went through for such a long time will always be interesting, and it will always remind me that I’m in a better place now.

For those among us who cannot simply “move on” and make a clean slate — who need to go back and immerse ourselves in the lives we have lived; who need to cross-examine our actions and behaviors, needs, wants, and behaviors — Kirsten Izer has a perfect melancholic soundtrack full of emotion and space: A minimalist, honest retracing of the painful falling out of love process. Stream “One Year” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!

Stream: “One Year” – Kirsten Izer

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