When Kylie V released their debut LP Big Blue in 2021, the Vancouver singer-songwriter was only 17 years old. In hindsight, they described the creative process behind the album's melancholic, yearning folk-rock as writing for the sake of writing. In the intervening years, life rushed toward Kylie. Relationships came and went. They did some travelling, including sharing a bill with Blunt Chunks in Toronto. Back in Vancouver, Kylie played bigger and bigger venues, among them the historic Commodore Ballroom. With more life experience comes greater assurance about themselves and the world around them, and Kylie expresses love and longing with a new level of nuance and clarity on their sophomore album and Royal Mountain Records debut Crash Test Plane.
With Big Blue and two EPs behind them, including last year's The Runaway on which Crash Test Plane's "Runaway" and "Catherine" originally appeared, Kylie's latest full-length immediately feels familiar. But Kylie also explores some of their broader musical tastes here. Violins, banjos and vocal harmonies are nothing new for them, but the arrangements reach new vistas, imbuing Crash Test Plane with country finesse. Pop also comes to the fore on songs like "Wish I Was in Bed." Driven by an electric guitar riff, this love letter to their friends is Kylie's catchiest song yet.
Kylie spends Crash Test Plane ruminating on relationships with intimate specificity. Over understated trumpet on the breakup song "Year of the Rabbit," they again express gratitude for their friends: "I walk a couple miles / Think about myself for a little while / I call a couple friends / 'Cause someone always picks up." The contrast on "Lucky Streak" is both emotional and musical. Penned while going through a breakup just as all their dreams seemed to be coming true, Kylie asks, "Did I fuck you up? / Were you losing interest? / Did you tell your mother everything / Or did you ever face it?" Like a more sophisticated successor to Big Blue standout "On My Mind," at its climax, "Lucky Streak" weathers a flash lightning storm of a guitar solo.
As much life as Kylie has lived since Big Blue, they continue to dream. They want to keep their momentum going, but naturally, sometimes they falter. Hesitancy seeps into the sombre "Golden." "Stand there where you are right now / It won't be bad forever," they promise. Even though Kylie sings this in the second person, they acknowledge that it's okay to take a breather. Their desire for movement manifests in avoidant ways, too. Amid luminous keys, Kylie ponders a list of what-ifs on "Runaway." Despite their admitted fear of commitment, the song contains a glimmer of hope. "Maybe it'll all work out / And you're the one I'll sing about / For years to come / And none of it will hurt / Maybe in a couple years / We will have worked through all our fears / And we can sit in silence like we were," they lull. After all, Kylie has described themselves as someone who can power through discomfort if they know there's something to look forward to. They bring that fortitude to "Anomaly." Written during what they've described as the worst January of their life, the apologetic song is rife with remorse for taking someone for granted.
Big Blue's title came from a joke Kylie used to make about wanting to walk into the ocean whenever life got tough – not to drown but to take a break from it all. Crash Test Plane jettisons Big Blue's desire for simple repose. Instead, Kylie follows their pining heart toward something bigger and brighter. "Just swim there / If there's no water, carve yourself a river," Kylie encourages on the title track. They once sang of just wanting to get drunk and watch movies on Big Blue's "One Fluid Motion," but their ambitions are far greater now that they've gotten a taste of the wider world. Given Kylie's upward trajectory as of late, they're going to shine wherever they land.