Kevin Bronson on January 25th, 2016

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Chloe Chaidez turned 21 last month. First spotted playing in a kids cover band when she was 11, Chaidez emerged as Kitten and signed a record deal when she was 15, eventually releasing three EPs leading up to 2014’s self-titled debut on Elektra. Like her onstage pyrotechnics, it was almost too much of a good thing, despite a couple of stellar singles. Now safe from trying to be career-spanning on a debut album, Kitten has departed Elektra, taking the indie route. Chaidez spent a year in New York to explore and recharge before convening with co-writer Chad Anderson in secluded locales (a ranch in Nevada, a spot in woodsy upstate New York) to work on music for a new EP, due Feb. 26.  That EP, “Heaven or Somewhere In Between,” finds its musical inspiration, she says, in British bands such as Cocteau Twins, Suede, Pulp and the Cure and in hall-of-famers like Phil Spector, Roy Orbison and Gene Pitney. And while Kitten is certainly not the first to employ reverb as a mood-altering chemical, it’s done artfully on the glossy, cinematic first single “Fall on Me.” Yes, she sounds reflective for somebody who’s 21 — and director Joshua Shultz does a nice job of conveying that in the video — but three other songs on the EP are titled, “Church,” “Heaven” and “Rapture,” so there’s probably more soul-searching on the horizon.

||| Watch: The video for “Fall on Me”

||| Live: Kitten headlines the Fonda Theatre on Saturday night.

||| Previously: Live at the Troubadour, “Why I Wait,” ||| Previously: Favorite EPs of 2013; “Japanese Eyes,” “Cut It Out,” “Cut It Out” video, live at the Hammer Museum (2010); early interview.