Rainsford Releases Debut Album ‘Before Blue’ Via Sparta Distribution
MULTIHYPHENATE ARTIST RAINSFORD RELEASES DEBUT ALBUM BEFORE BLUE VIA SPARTA DISTRIBUTION
SHARES THE RECORD’S LATEST SINGLE “GHOSTWRITER”
Photo Credit: Tony Wilson
New York, NY (September 26, 2025) – Today sees multihyphenate artist Rainsford, aka Rainey Qualley, releasing her highly anticipated debut album Before Blue via Sparta Distribution. With it she shares the record’s latest single, “Ghostwriter.” Before Bluewas recorded in New York City and in Los Angeles with Rainsford working with producers Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers/Grace VanderWaal, girlpuppy) and Michael Kamerman (Smallpools). The album was mixed by Evan Sutton (Lizzy McAlpine) and mastered by Dave Kutch (Beyonce / Billie Illish).
Stereogum said spring single “Horse,” “gallops away from 2010s-style glitchy alt-pop for something more organic that showcases the depth of her voice and recalls Haim.”
Feelings about past relationships will forever be complex. Some will chalk their encounters up to experience, passively moving from one chapter to the next. For Rainsford Before Blue marks a significant turning point in the musician, actor, writer, creative director, and model’s arsenal to date. Her first fully formed record with production as bold as her vocal strength, it pulls past pain into the present, shifting gears between the big city and Blue Ridge Mountains in a maiden quest to understand love.
“Most of the songs were written in the midst of heartbreak and a turbulent relationship. Eventually I found my partner, we had a baby, and I felt truly happy for maybe the first time ever. So I felt so distant from what I’d experienced while writing most of the album,” Rainey reveals. “I still love the songs and wanted to honor how visceral and important it all felt while writing them. So the album leans towards that, blending the negative and positive experiences together.”
Marking physical and lyrical new pastures, Before Blue is a collection of songs where east meets west; written during living room sessions at Rainey’s former homes in New York and Los Angeles, it plays out as a personal timeline through the tunnel of love with raw emotion in the driving seat. Journeying between stops where broken love fades into darkness and new deeper profound relationships emerge, it glows with goddess-like reassurance via its Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic in which Rainey herself appears from the shadows, guided by her medieval headdress’ candlelight.
Recently reacquainting herself with North Carolina where, growing up, dance classes and singing behind closed doors once exposed a young Rainey to an abundance of soundtracks and musical genres, Before Blue moves through the indie, pop, R&B, and soul which encapsulated her world, only to be deepened by guitar lessons from her dad between dance competition roadtrips as a teen. “When dancing, you experience music physically and from early on I figured out I could sing, so I always knew this was the path I’d take but it was only when I left home everything came into focus.” Now parenting a child herself, living closer to family with their house cat Wizard assuming his position as curious protector, creativity and inspiration continue to flow across a Narnia of songwriting where wild horses, butterflies, and other winged or tailed creatures roam free. “Animals are so pure; if I can find a way to relate to them as I write, it brings a higher energy to the song,” she says.
Transforming the stripped-back vibe of earlier EP Emotional Support Animal, Before Blue discovers confidence in collaboration. An early guitar-vocal version of album single “Salt” was the catalyst, throwing open the door for trusted producers Schadt and Kamerman to enter. Finding its (bitter) sweet spot, “It was about not giving up on this thing and together, getting it to where it needed to be,” she recalls. Bringing her phone of voice notes to Doug’s studio in Brooklyn and Michael’s bungalow studio in the San Fernando Valley, tracks were recorded in the moment, ramping up the hi-fi in lo-fi settings before adding a sprinkle of fairy dust (drums) at Jack Antonoff’s LA studio.
Handpicking production styles to suit the mood, Rainey adopts inspiration from her own playlists spanning Cocteau Twins, Dolly Parton, Sam Cooke, and Prince whilst capturing the directness and authenticity of contemporaries Charlie XCX, Caroline Polacheck or Self Esteem. Honesty and humour places Before Blue in its own alt-pop realm as she shrewdly balances the ability to poke fun and even laugh in those darkest moments. Take “Cowboy Rodeo” – a passionate longing where cheeky SFX of lassos whipping and dogs barking offer little lifts to reinforce her lyrical truth. “Some of the songs have silly moments even if the subject is quite sad,” she suggests. “Adding thunderclaps started as a light-hearted idea but suited ‘Deal With It Tomorrow’ so well we kept it in; the risk paid off.” Elsewhere torment and tenderness tango together; there’s rousing vulnerability in ‘Horse,’ waning patience in “Eye To Eye,” and even a resolution as closing lullaby “Baby Girl” signifies blissful forward momentum.
Unpacking thoughts alongside the belongings of her new home, Before Blue might offer some catharsis in this busy mom’s relentless schedule when creativity won’t let up; since hitting record Rainey has amassed over five million streams all as an independent artist who has shot a movie in LA and has even starred in a host of film and TV projects – both screen and soundtrack (Kirsten Foe’s Off The Record features track ‘See Me Cry’). But ever the speaker of undeniable truth, as Rainey herself will attest, it’s so much more than that; “With those other projects it’s like you’re this small piece; it can be freeing to relinquish control over to someone else but when it comes to making music you get to complete the whole puzzle.”
Before Blue tracklist:
01. Over Your Shoulder
02. Butterfly
03. Ghost Writer
04. Deal With It Tomorrow
05. Cowboy
06. Horse
07. Do you Close Your Eyes To Pray
08. Salt
09. Every Reason
10. Eye to Eye
11. Interlude (kiss like a liar)
12, Smoke Rings
13. Baby Girl
Connect with Rainsford:
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