Brooklyn-based musician Kiersten Chow, known as Kierst, came of age in Columbia, South Carolina, listening to her older siblings’ CD collections — a foundation that sparked her early interest in the emotional impact of songwriting. She creates atmospheric folk shaped by textured arrangements and a quiet sense of urgency; her music often drifts between the candor of indie folk and the tonal resonance of slowcore, drawing influence from Elliott Smith, Yo La Tengo, and Mazzy Star.

Kierst’s debut EP Thud was released in 2022 via London-based Sad Club Records, and earned praise from The Line of Best Fit, Rough Trade, So Young Magazine, and The Independent. She followed the release with a ten-date UK tour that winter, which included performances for TLOBF’s annual Five Day Forecast and Wide Awake Festival’s winter concert series. In 2023, she released the slow-burning single “Crush” via Slow Dance Records, and in 2024 returned to Sad Club with “Southern Star,” produced by Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Snail Mail, The Drums). That same year, she landed a track placement on the Disney+ series Extraordinary and toured down to SXSW, appearing on bills with TAGABOW, Chanel Beads, Merce Lemon, and others.

With her sophomore EP now complete, Kierst has taken a more intentional approach to writing — one built on consistency rather than fleeting moments. The result is a deliberate collection of songs that, as it unfolds, reveals the melodic fragility at the core of her sound.