K Skelton

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, K Skelton, has always had a song in his head. From an early age, he began figuring how to get it out. Skelton grew up in the surf mecca of Santa Cruz, where he passed his time listening to records and teaching himself his favorite drum and guitar parts. Music always seemed to come naturally to him. It was in his genes. Skelton’s parents fronted a country-gospel band for years, and their example paved the way for Skelton to develop his own ear for melody and harmony. He began writing his own songs, and, before long, found himself regularly performing on stage.

Skelton moved to San Francisco in 2010 and was drawn to the city’s psychedelic, garage scene. Bay Area luminaries like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, and White Fence gave him a newfound appreciation for San Francisco’s lo-fi tradition. With the influence of his rich, musical upbringing and inspired by the scene in his new city, Skelton set out to create his own sound.

In 2012, Skelton began writing a collection of material, performing all the instruments himself and recording onto 4-track cassette. The result was the perfectly titled High Maintenance Diva Princess, a collection of self aware lo-fi psych pop songs Skelton recorded in his apartment. The album is a morality tale of love and loss, told with shimmering guitar and reverberating chorus. He quickly gained the admiration of local musicians, who were eager to draw comparisons to Brian Wilson and George Harrison. But greater, local recognition was just out of reach.

Skelton approached beloved Bay Area musician/engineer, Kelley Stoltz, in 2017 to produce his next batch of singles. Stoltz’s analog “polished but also lo-fi” production aesthetic was the ideal complement to Skelton’s grooving, symphonic songwriting. While not completely divorced from the jangly, lo-fi psych pop of HMDP, the new set of songs have a richer, more orchestrated quality to them, the product of both obsessive songcraft and Skelton’s own varied influences. Listening to lead-off single, “Piece for My Niece,” the listener can hear the subtle ways those influences peak through: Neil Young’s mature musicality, Gene Clark’s from-the-heart earnestness, and even William Onyeabor’s chunky, grooving synth stabs. Like George Harrison before him, Skelton puts as much stock into new sound exploration as he does into pop satisfaction, and the results are lo-fi psychedelic perfection.

You’d be forgiven to think K Skelton just got here. But, as these new singles remind us: he’s been here this whole time.