In the wake of Frankie Cosmos’ successful studio release “Zentropy”, the quiet and intimate set of demos on Donutes is like a behind the scenes look at singer/songwriter Greta Kline’s creative process. While Zentropy offers a bigger sound, fully capturing the energy of Frankie Cosmos’ live shows, listening to Donutes is like stepping back into the quiet bedroom where these songs all began. Kline’s music derives a lot of emotion from simplicity, and these songs strip down to the heart of that, instrumentally featuring only acoustic guitar and her unique, affecting voice. The distinctive high tone in Greta Kline’s voice allows her music to achieve a special melodic sadness, and that comes through on all of these short but lovely demos. This release divulges more of Kline’s lyrical poetry, always seeming to be ripped straight from the pages of her diary, revealing all of the sweet and sad corners of her life. As all her music tends to do, these soft spoken songs open a window into the life of Frankie Cosmos’, giving the listener all musings on boredom and love and anxiety and nostalgia for the days of hanging with her amazing and beloved dog JoeJoe. This same subtle sadness often tinges her music, and even many of the more upbeat or love songs leave behind a wistful feeling. Donutes has all of the charming humor and whimsy and emotion that makes Frankie Cosmos so wonderful, and is all the more reason to to listen to the full magic of the prolific Frankie Cosmos discography.

Get Donutes, get Zentropy which is now out on Double Double Whammy, and catch Frankie Cosmos soon at a show.