In February of 2020, Chloe Moriondo released her first EP, after her debut album Rabbit Hearted. in 2018. The EP was titled Spirit Orb, and it contains four songs. It followed the release of her single, “Kalmia Kid,” in April of 2019. It has an uplifting energy that makes the listener feel comfortable in its presence. When I listen to this EP, I feel like I am in a cotton candy cloud, opening up and processing my emotions out loud. This EP feels like confessions, but not in a scandalous way, in a way where it was just thoughts we hadn’t discussed before. It expresses the feeling of I am upset at the world, or excited, or a little shy, but it feels like all of those in a context of honesty and an environment that fosters communication and exploration of emotions.

The first song on the EP is “Ghost Adventure Spirit Orb,” which is one of the first songs that got me into Chloe as a musical artist. The song addresses dissociation and a skewed sense of reality that some neurodivergent people experience. It exists in an imaginary world of beauty and fantasy, and it uses random objects and references to represent the wackiness of being out of touch with the world around you. However, it also demonstrates a silly sense of being and a childlike view on how to handle things when life gets difficult, whether it is “tell the frogs and toadstools” or “iron out my brain.” It gives a silly vibe to the silly and energetic feeling that goes along with being unattached to real life, but it also still expresses the bit of unease that goes along with that in the music.

The second song, “Kindergarten,” tells the story of a kindergarten crush from the first meeting of sharing lunch to the big conclusion of asking to hold their hand. This song continues the album’s overall theme of playfulness and coziness side-by-side with the vulnerability and insecurity that comes with youth. The energy of this song is joyful and fun, and the way Chloe describes the crush perfectly encapsulates the full, complete, no-holding-back emotions that children and adolescents feel, before they have been broken down. The music does a brilliant job of presenting the nervousness and sweetness of a crush: ukelele, a light and airy melody, and an underlying hum that pairs perfectly.

The third song is titled “Bugbear,” and it once again focuses on aspects of youth, although slightly different ones. This song is more angsty, and it addresses what it feels like to grow up as a teenager under today’s standards of achievement. It is the now classic feeling that so many teenagers ran into during the pandemic and leading up to it: the feeling of WHY do I feel like this? And WHAT do I do? The song uses a faster beat and a bit more built up music to convey this more frustrated, “grrr hiss” kind of attitude. It also addresses the depression that pairs with these feelings, although not with the mood of the song. It is a more angry view of the depression, the “sleeping through your days and skipping meals” that Chloe talks about. It also takes on the cutthroat comparison we as teenagers experience, and represents it through the thoughts that go through our minds, not just the ideas on their own.

“Far Away Friend” is the final song on this EP, and in it, Chloe speaks of going on adventures far away and then returns to the idea of staying home, where they are comfortable. This song is the one I am least familiar with. However, I do know that it captures the wistfulness of wanting more from your life, but also the problems that come along with that. The first half of the song describes the desire for more that is instilled in human nature, found at most bland office desks, and framed at the root of two of the best Disney movies: Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. The second half of the song isn’t presented as an anxious hesitation, but more just an overall hesitation, built by anxiety, along with want for comfort, and exhaustion, and peacefulness at the current state. Overall, the song builds its emotions perfectly and the music expresses those emotions with voice and background beautifully.

This EP has a special place in my heart because of its appeals to human nature and the nature of youth. It is constructed so that the lyrics and the feelings that go along with those lyrics are conveyed through the energy and genre of the music behind them. This album connects to me as a human being, and I understand the emotions presented because I have felt them. I am hugely attached to the music in this EP, and it also has quality and meaning beyond just my liking the pretty noise.