Click Image to Download!

“For me, making art is about transcribing something beyond human words that is innate and essential to the human experience.”

For Brooklyn-based alt-pop producer, artist, and songwriter Chris Kage, the path to “becoming” is not a linear one but rather a journey in cycles, endlessly confronting the dark parts of ourselves in order to move forward into the light. With his debut album, Cycles, which releases December 1, 2023, he explores the evolving path of identity through the lens of his own experiences on that loop—his metaphorical passage through birth, life, death, and rebirth.

Kage was born and raised in Los Angeles but has spent almost a decade now living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Through the years, he has primarily operated behind the scenes, as a songwriter in bands and as a backing musician, touring with the likes of Micah, Lukas and Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Wax Owls (who notably performed at Bonnaroo in 2023).

With the release of Cycles, Kage embraces his own sense of rebirth as he steps out of the shadows and into the forefront. Though Chris’ last name is Bullard, he chose “Kage” because of its significance as a Japanese word meaning “shadow created by light.” Given to his own musical project, it represents “facing the hidden shadow parts of your identity and reemerging as a new self.”

“The night lasts for so long when we’re in it Don’t turn your back against this feeling There’s still something to believe in Leave the light on for a minute” - From “Leave the Light On”

The need to confront the darker parts of himself came full-force for Chris in his mid-twenties, when he ended up in a psych ward for three days after a “significant break from [his] ego and reality.” After this experience, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and uncomfortably forced to come to terms with things about himself he hadn’t considered or faced. But rather than be totally destroyed by the struggle, Kage saw it as an inherent and necessary part of his human experience—one that he could alchemize into something beautiful to share with others.

“With everything I’ve gone through with my mental health, I’ve come to understand that it goes beyond just the “health” category—for me it’s been more of a spiritual process, a human awakening. And my artistic output is about trying to emotionally and sensorily communicate the truths of my path in a way that can support others on theirs.”

In addition to inspiring the songs written for Cycles, his experiences with mental health also led Chris in early 2019 to start Sound Mind Live, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster community, dialogue, and action on mental health through the power of music. Sound Mind Live’s work includes live concert events podcast and video programming, online content, and their annual Sound Mind Music Festival for Mental Health in Brooklyn. They also provide on-site and digital mental health resources in partnership with artist tours and venues around the country. Through Chris’ own mental health journey, it became his goal to create a shared space where music and mental health can coexist. The song “We Stand Free” from Cycles was actually inspired by a moment at one of their festivals:

“Seeing Langhorne Slim (who appears on ‘We Stand Free’ alongside the East Coast Inspirational Singers) singing in celebration with a full choir at Sound Mind Music Festival made me realize we had to have something like this for the album. The magic and power and joy of that moment was undeniable. And that kind of celebration is a central part of any emotional healing process.”

Sonically, Cycles also represents a kind of rebirth for Kage. While the majority of his work as a backing musician lived primarily in the Americana, country, and singer-songwriter space, his debut album showcases a totally different side of Kage’s sensibilities—a space where the modern- and alt-pop influences of Finneas (Billie Eilish), Bon Iver, Hozier, and Labyrinth overlap. Where dark undertones and heavy, melancholic sonic palettes root the path, we feel the journey being lifted by voices and melodies of hopeful exultation. The result in Cycles is an at-once engaging and accessible cross-genre form of pop that grabs the listener musically while taking them somewhere deeper lyrically.

“Between growing up in LA and living in NYC, I’ve been inspired by everything from folk singer-songwriters to jazz to world music to pop, but the focus on intelligent lyrics with catchy melodies and smart chord changes has always grabbed my attention. And I believe that pop music can have meaning, that it can speak to something real, something deeper.”

The recording process for Cycles took place almost entirely at Kage’s home studio in Brooklyn. He single handedly wrote the songs, lyrics, and melodies, as well as recorded all the instrumentation on his own—except for the lead vocals. For these duties, he called on his friends Joe Jury (Up from the Shadows, Attractions, Leave the Light On, Love and War), JOY. (Into the River), and Langhorne Slim with the East Coast Inspirational Singers (We Stand Free). This form of production and collaboration in its own way reflects Kage’s healing journey: going alone into the shadows to face and redefine oneself, but in the end calling on the support and influence of others to emerge anew.

“Would you cover your eyes When the morning comes? Would you cover your eyes And block out the sun from shining? Pull me up Up from the shadows” - from “Up from the Shadows”

As each phase of Cycles progresses along, we consistently see the juxtaposition that Kage has found in the process of arriving at this moment: the light and dark against each other, the mirrors and shadows we must face to grow, the path through pain to peace. In one noteworthy moment at the end of Cycles, where we hear a sample of Jim Carrey’s famous college commencement speech, bringing the whole narrative together: “You can join the game, fight the wars, play with form all you want, but to find real peace you have to let the armor go… risk being seen in all of your glory.”

And at the center of Chris Kage’s music, his own risk of exposure and transparency, is a gift and an extended hand to the listener. While it is necessary to face the shadows and the struggles in our lives, that chapter is only one temporary moment in the cycle. And on the other side is something beautiful we can all reach for… together.

“It’s at these moments of darkness we can all shed light on others that there is hope, and life does go on.”