Sarah Kinsley recently announced the upcoming EP Fleeting, due out on Feb. 13. In addition to the title track and new single “Lonely Touch,” it will include a collaboration with Paris Paloma.
Fans wanting to see Kinsley perform the new material will have an opportunity when she hits the road in March. The headlining tour starts in Vancouver, BC, and finishes with a series of UK dates in May.Before a secret show in Los Angeles, we talked to Kinsley about her music and favorite artists.
Who are your vocal influences?
I feel like when I was younger in high school, I listened to a lot of jazz vocalists. I listened to a lot of Sarah Vaughan. I listened to a lot of Julie London, a lot of Ella Fitzgerald. And then I kind of realized that my voice couldn’t really accomplish what they did with their voices.
I think when I was learning how to produce, I was inspired vocally and production-wise by Kate Bush and just a lot of choices that she made that I found really innovative and brilliant. And then when I was in college, I fell in love with Joni Mitchell. And I love Caroline Polachek and Bjork. And just the vocal stylings of Elizabeth Frazier of the Cocteau Twins. She’s one of my greatest inspirations.
What’s your vocal warmup before performing?
I have a pretty rigorous vocal warmup now because I used to lose my voice constantly when I was touring really early on. I do a lot of trills up and down and up and down, a lot of breathing through a straw, cough drops and lozenges, but it’s not too bad.
You played classical music when you were younger. Who are your favorite classical composers?
I love Ravel and Debussy. Any day of the week, any time you put that on, I’m in a really perfect trance state. I love impressionistic music. It’s a very out of body experience for me, and I like walking around and experiencing the world while listening to that music. It transforms my surroundings for me.
What instrument is underrated?
I think everybody shits on the Nord keyboard because it’s the keyboard that everyone tours with, but I have been messing around with a lot of patches recently. I play that in tandem with this Matriarch synth, and I actually really really love the two together. I also like an acoustic guitar that’s missing strings. It has this innate nostalgia that nobody talks about, so I like that too.
What instrument do you wish you could play at a higher level?
On my first record, the last record that I did, I very briefly learned how to play the glass bowls. I was very bad at it, but I would watch these videos when we were making the record of these guys playing in symphony halls. They have a bowl of water next to them and they’re dipping their fingers in and playing “Ave Maria” on the glass bowls. I really wish that I could do that.
Sarah Kinsley Spring 2026 Tour
March 25 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
March 26 – Vancouver, BC – Hollywood Theatre
March 28 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
March 30 – San Francisco, CA – August Hall
March 31 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda
April 1 – San Diego, CA – Music Box
April 3 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
April 4 – Denver, CO – Marquis
April 7 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
April 8 – Houston, TX – House of Blues – Bronze Peacock Room
April 9 – Dallas, TX – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
April 11 – Atlanta, GA – The Loft At Center Stage
April 12 – Orlando, FL – The Abbey
April 14 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
April 15 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground
April 17 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
April 18 – Columbia, MO – Blue Note Columbia
April 19 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
April 21 – Toronto, ON – The Mod Club
April 22 – Toronto, ON – The Mod Club
April 23 – Quebec, QC – Le Studio TD
April 25 – Washington, DC – The Howard Theatre
April 26 – Boston, MA – Royale
April 28 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
May 20 – Dublin, IE – The Button Factory
May 22 – Glasgow, UK – The Garage
May 23 – Manchester, UK – Gorilla
May 25 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Institute 2
May 26 – Bristol, UK – The Fleece
May 28 – London, UK – KOKO
