At the age of 13, the then-London-based secondary school student Kieran Poling took up guitar. Kieran, who by his own admission was struggling to find an interesting outlet or hobby, found a love and passion for music straight away. Initially inspired by John Mayer, he then began expanding his horizons by working with producers, learning production, and performing in (what he dubs) “rubbish” school bands. “I think we’ve all been there,” he laughs.

Some years later, he found a love for alt-pop and began learning to play the keys, which would set the path for his musical project, Kacia. “It kind of started coming around in about, I want to say, 2018,” Kieran tells Post-Burnout. “Originally, I was under ‘Kieran Poling,’ under my own name, and we sort of transitioned in sound, really. I ended up getting introduced to Jeff [Powell], over at Salt House Records, and that was when it really kicked off. But, you know, these early songs – ‘Night Out,’ ‘Young Fun Dumb’ – they started back when I was 17. So, yeah, it’s been a long time, really. But it wasn’t until kind of about just over a year ago, we found Kacia.”

Kacia’s music began developing during the COVID-19 lockdowns. At the time, Kieran was unable to see his then-partner due to the restrictions, and the only thing getting him out of his house was his job at a supermarket. “That’s when we started this,” says Kieran. “Like so many artists, we had nothing to do, so it was like, ‘Let’s Zoom call and keep busy,’ and that is how…We wrote ‘Night Out’ during lockdown. Yeah, and ‘Young Fun Dumb.’”

But the pandemic also signified Kieran’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. Today, at age 21, he can reflect on how this time was atypical of most people’s coming of age. “It was so, so weird,” he says. “I remember my 18^th birthday was a curry with my parents. That’s not your normal experience. [Laughs] You know, no gigs to go to, no movies to go and see, it was so strange, you know?”

This age of maturing plays a huge factor in Kacia’s music. “I’m fascinated with that period,” Kieran says. “That’s been the last five years for me, really. That transition from being a teenager, going into adulthood, and I’ve just written about my experiences, but it’s not direct. It’s not autobiographical, in that sense. It’s definitely, in elements, kind of heightened, et cetera.”

These lyrics on the confusion and development of those precious, tender years are complimented by beautiful, soaring indie pop instrumentation. Kieran describes the band’s songwriting process: “Our thing is, let’s write music in a major key, but it’s really quite deep. That’s always been my goal. Major key, but sad lyrics. So, that was definitely our process.”

With the band’s three released singles and music videos at the time of publication – “Young Fun Dumb,” “Night Out,” and “Plastic Straws” – we see connecting narratives through the singles and accompanying videos. These are smaller pieces in the overall image, which is to be revealed with the release of the band’s upcoming debut concept album, titled What if Life is Just a Movie? “We’re aiming for early ’24, now,” says Kieran on the album. “And everything links. So, on the album, the tracks link; the videos are linking. It will be one long short film by the end of it. And I’m hoping when you listen to the full album, it will make sense and you get that kind of blend of all of it piecing together.”

In addition to this multimedia project, which combines music and film, What if Life is Just a Movie? is expected to expand further with the band’s live performances, next year. “The live show is going to be a big thing for me,” says Kieran. “We’ve started on telling the story live. I’ve played a few shows now where I’ve played with the order, but, like any live performance, doing it in an album order won’t work, so we have had to jiggle it about a bit. But my dream is to have a budget to make this as theatric as it can be. I want to tell this story with lighting, with costumes, stuff like that, and really get it.”

To keep up to date with Kacia, you can follow them on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. For a more extensive interview with Kieran, where we go into greater detail on the topics discussed, as well as additional subjects like storytelling and narratives in music in the era of TikTok, celebrity culture, the band’s single “Night Out,” how comfortable he feels getting personal in his lyrics, the stage of production that the album is in, the concepts and making of the band’s music videos, and more, tune into POSTBURNOUT Interviews… today at 17:00 (IST) on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.