Kevin Bronson on September 28th, 2022

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Seventeen-year-old Ryann Barnes casts herself as the wallflower at a party on her debut single, “Floating Balloon,” watching people watch other people, tending to her broken heart and “spilling my sober thoughts on the carpet.”

It’s a melancholic yet strong introduction to her debut EP, “Hearing Loss,” out Oct. 28, showcasing a keen knack for weaving lyrical details into song. Barnes worked on the EP with producers Paige Stark (Tashaki Miyaki) and Taylor Locke.

“One afternoon in July I saw a floating balloon in my backyard,” Barnes told Nylon, where the song premiered. “There was something very mesmerizing about the isolation and distance that a balloon has alone in an open sky. I felt it represented the way I tend to self-isolate and observe my surroundings when I feel uninvited or overwhelmed. I don’t like to choose favorites, but this song is still relevant for me. The baritone guitar really added to the track and gave it just the right amount of angst that comes with feeling inside yourself.”

Stark directed the video for the first single, shot on Super 8 film.

||| Watch: The video for “Floating Balloon”