Kissey Asplund

by Cyril Cordor Initially using the Internet as her main vehicle, Swedish electro-soul singer Kissey Asplund introduced her silky and meandering falsettos on her debut album, Plethora (2008), an ethereal collage of neo-soul, jazz- and deep house, hip-hop, and abstract broken beat. Born in 1982 to a Swedish father and Grenadian (West Indies) mother, Asplund was raised to be a music performer. Starting at age six, she was trained to play a variety of instruments, such as the piano and, of course, her voice, in music school until she was about 19 years old. She decided to quit music around that time to pursue a career in art design, though only to be persuaded a few years later by friends to launch a MySpace music page in 2005. With various hip-hop and electronica producers lending her beats through MySpace, the Swedish-born singer went from receiving praise by blogosphere critics to racking up performance gigs in the Netherlands, Belgium, New York, and elsewhere. Also through MySpace, she wound up forging a musical partnership with Paris production outfit Papa Jazz Crew. When her demo tape got passed around to labels, she inked a recording deal in 2007 with British-based R2 Records, who released her first single and 7", "With You" b/w "Caos," that same year. The Papa Jazz Crew-produced demo was converted to the Fuss'n'fight EP and issued in February 2008 to precede the full-length debut, Plethora, also entirely produced by the Papa Jazz Crew, in March. Recorded for other labels, a few more vinyl singles also came in 2008, including the "Move Me" b/w "99 Bottles" 7" on Record Breakin'.