KEXP Music Director Chris Sanley on Hemi Hemingway
In Our Headphones
KEXP
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
Host Evie Stokes talks to KEXP Music Director Chris Sanley about Hemi Hemingway’s new song "Oh, My Albertine" from the upcoming album Wings of Desire, out on Feb. 20 via PNKSLM Recordings.
Produced by Lilly Ana Fowler
Mastered by: William Myers
Production support: Serafima Healy
Associate Director of Editorial: Dusty Henry
Listen to the full songs on KEXP's "In Our Headphones" playlist on Spotify or the “What's In Our Headphones” playlist on YouTube.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Evie Stokes and you're listening to In Our Headphones. |
| 0:02.9 | We have the incredible Chris Sainly with us today, the music director here at K-E-X-P. |
| 0:08.2 | Welcome back, Chris. |
| 0:09.2 | So you have a song you'd like to share with a class today from an artist named Hemmy Hemingway, also known as Sean Blackwell, an artist that's based out of Wellington, New Zealand. |
| 0:20.8 | Lately I've been. Sean Blackwell and the artist that's based out of Wellington, New Zealand. |
| 0:36.4 | I don't know about you, but I usually and extremely presently need a song that feels like a portal into a different space and time. |
| 0:38.4 | And this song, Oh My Albertine, absolutely, delivers on all of those fronts. |
| 0:43.8 | I feel like it really hits the same sweet spot as Massey stars fade into you. |
| 0:48.9 | I want to hold the hand inside you. |
| 0:58.8 | This song, it's subtle, but has this really, like, incredible build and this cinematic romanticism that just really gripped me on that first listen. |
| 1:10.8 | And you, you can hear this, like, yearning and desperation. that just really gripped me on that first listen. |
| 1:16.0 | And you can hear this like yearning and desperation throughout the song. |
| 1:23.0 | And like you hear them singing about a love lost, but what's not lost is that feeling of finding it again. |
| 1:30.6 | And you hear me saying them and that's because he, this is technically like a duet with another New Zealand based artist, Vera Ellen. |
| 1:36.0 | And the way that their vocals interplay with one another on this song is chef's kiss. |
| 1:37.4 | I love it so much. |
| 1:46.6 | She's kind of like evoking a little Angel Olson with her vocal delivery, just really like rich and so and so emotive, so, so, so beautiful. |
| 1:52.3 | And you've got these kind of, like, warm, gauzy guitar lines, and their harmonies are so perfect. |
| 1:58.4 | And the lyrics, when you get to the chorus, just like, maybe we'll find a new piece of life there. |
| 2:00.0 | Maybe we'll find salvation. Maybe we'll find a new piece of mind. |
| 2:03.4 | Maybe I'll find you again. Just like, you know, longing, yearning and hoping that these two will |
| 2:09.2 | find a way back to each other. Cut to me on the floor. It's so, so good. So this is another |
... |
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