Kristin Daelyn is a folk artist and fingerstyle guitarist from Philadelphia. Her debut album, Gardens & Plantings, was out in 2022. With Beyond the Break, her second full-length (out next February 28, via Orindal Records), her soaring, spectral voice sits higher in the mix, and her lyrics take center stage, incorporating imagery based on her love of poetry and a creative practice that draws from philosophical texts and exploration of the natural world. The songs themselves, Daelyn explains, are often designed to create inhabitable landscapes for the listener, an approach noticeable in the open-ended language of “Longing.” With this newly visceral approach, Daelyn brings to focus her evolution as a guitarist. Focused as much on melody as the texture of her playing, she favors chords that leave suggestive space between each note, dissonance that never quite resolves and adds a tender shadow to her major-key melodies. In the instrumental title track, she plays in collaboration with Dan Knishkowy (Adeline Hotel, Jackie West) on guitar and Danny Black (Good Old War, Gregory Alan Isakov) on pedal steel, resulting in a mood that blends the open-road psychedelia of William Tyler with the dreamy travelogues of Julie Byrne.

What She Says: “It Came to Me Then is a song about the quiet, cyclical nature of renewal.  It’s about how life continually invites us to begin again. I wrote it while walking a looped trail I’d been down a hundred times, but on that summer day, I saw it differently. It captured a moment I knew I was closing one cycle and stepping into the next.”

“Patience Comes to the Bones is the song that sparked the writing of Beyond the Break.  At the time, I was living in a quiet cabin on a Pennsylvania hillside, spending my days reading poetry and writing music.  A line from Mary Oliver—“patience comes to the bones before it takes root in the heart”—became the seed for an entire album. This song, and the record as a whole, is a reflection on learning presence, curiosity and allowance.“

Her Mixtape:

Adrianne Lenker – Symbol

This is an Adrianne deep cut. When I lived in L.A., I used to drive up to the San Bernardino Mountains and stay in a town called Crestline. There’s a scenic road there called ‘The Rim of the World,’ and it really lives up to its name. One particularly overcast day, I drove through the fog along the rim, listening to this song, and would periodically stop to overlook the vastness of the earth from a quiet shelter of pines. Every time I hear it, I’m transported right back to that moment.

Flyte – Perfect Dark

When I first heard this song, I think I held my breath for the entire three minutes. Then I realized there are actually three different recordings of it, and I listened to them in succession, continuously, for about a week. Each production brought a new awareness to the piece, and it gives me a transcendent feeling of both grief and wonder, which I believe are two sides of the same coin.

Jose Gonzales – Cycling Trivialities 

This song has been a companion of mine for the 17 years it’s been alive. It was one of the first songs that made me think, ‘I want to do that. I want to create something like that.’ It was several years before I actually did, but the inspiration stuck. His music resonates with me on a soul-level and has been a constant presence in my musical vernacular. The guitar work is incredible, and ending the record with a three-minute instrumental outro and then a minute of silently sitting in the room with him reminds me that, in music, you can structurally do whatever you want.  You can create any feeling you want.

Nathan Salsburg – Impossible Air 

No one plays guitar quite like Nathan Salsburg. I almost don’t want to say more because his music speaks for itself—you just have to listen to truly experience it. His playing is unmistakable; you can recognize him within the first bar of any piece. It’s a sound that feels deeply rooted in history, but is also incredibly innovative, weaving the past and present into something entirely his own.

Nick Drake – From The Morning 

I don’t know a folk guitarist who doesn’t admire Nick Drake. He’s a poet, not just lyrically but through his instrument. Pink Moon has been a huge inspiration in my life— and I’ve always preferred it to his other records because it’s just him and his guitar, stripped of any other instrumentation. You can really feel him in this record, and that’s exactly what I aimed for with my new album, Beyond The Break. While I occasionally share the stage with other instrumentalists, I wanted to be exposed in this same way.
Side note: I also have been listening to his mother, Molly Drake’s compilation The Tides Magnificence. It’s very cool to hear his roots, and her music is just as enchanting.

The Weather Station – Came So Easy

The record All of It Was Mine is truly special. Came So Easy gives me chills every time I hear it. To me, this song is about the vulnerability it takes to open yourself to love, and you can feel that intention so clearly in the poetry and in the composition. It manages a balance of both depth and expansiveness— something I’m always striving for in my own music. It reminds me of emerging from a cavernous underground into an open landscape, squinting at the first burst of sunlight.

Her album:

“Beyond The Break is a statement of rare tranquility and wisdom, atmosphere and grace. In these eight compositions, the Philadelphia songwriter takes influence from solo guitarists like Leo Kottke and John Fahey as well as writers like Mary Oliver, whose poem Patience inspired Patience Comes to the Bones. Through instrumental pieces that highlight her virtuosity as a player and elegant folk songs that showcase her gifts for tender pop melodies and emotionally incisive lyrics, Daelyn’s voice feels both urgent and timeless. Like a well-loved paperback passed between friends, her songs are open to reflection and personal annotation, designed to be of use. Recognizing the therapeutic power of her songs after honing her voice as a live performer, Daelyn sought an intimate approach to recording.
Working with co-producer Jason Cupp, she worked in her old apartment, tracking vocals and guitar simultaneously to ensure each song had a live performance at its heart. From these intuitive takes, she incorporated subtle textures in appearances from guitarist Dan Knishkowy (Adeline Hotel, Jackie West) and multi-instrumentalist Danny Black (Good Old
War, Gregory Alan Isakov) as well as string arrangements by Patrick Riley. As a songwriter, Daelyn never shies away from heavy subject matter but her writing has a way of casting beauty around each phrase, summoning meaning that extends beyond language. “We all share similar heartaches and desires,” she reflects on her inspiration. “I started thinking about our relationship with longing. The further the distance between ourselves and the thing that we want, the greater the tension.” Tracing a general arc from weary acceptance to forward momentum, her songs tell stories of love and loss that feel cosmic in scope yet alluringly hushed in their delivery. All throughout Beyond the Break, she creates landmarks from quiet moments like this: the layered, wordless refrain of An Opening that makes her imagery of a broken heart feel uniquely physical; the descending baritone guitar that gives White Lilies the gravity of an old country standard; the way she turns the title of Wanted into a multisyllabic, one-word hook. Speaking of her intentions as an artist, Daelyn explains, “I want people to feel cared for and connected… That’s all I want in the world, and I hope my music does that, too.” On Beyond the Break, she carves a path for us each to find our way home, knowing that the long, solitary journey is what we all share in common.”

Beyond The Break will be out On Febraury 25 via Orindal Records. Look HERE for more information on Kristin Daelyn.