Yorkshire alt soul singer songwriter Kindelan pours raw honesty into Wish I Wrote a Love Song, the “before” chapter of her After Before double single.
Produced with Ed Allen, the track drifts on warm fingerpicked guitar and gentle vocal layers that feel like a memory you can almost hold but never quite catch.
“It’s the song you never write that haunts you,” Kindelan says.
That line hits harder once you know why. “The line that started ‘Wish I Wrote a Love Song’ was ‘I wish I wrote a love song last November…’ Writing this was the first moment I consciously admitted I wasn’t happy in my relationship,” she told Atwood Magazine.
November holds weight for her. “My birthday is the 5th of November and my last one marked a time when I felt valued, secure, and like the world had slowed down for us.”
That warmth is what she tries to capture — or admit she never fully did.
There’s a touch of Lianne La Havas in the way Kindelan threads soulful phrasing with folk-like intimacy, each word landing soft yet unresolved.
Lines like “Wish I’d written it down so I’d remember” feel like a door left half open.
The whole song stays spare, carried by jazz-influenced chords and a hush that doesn’t rush to fix the ache.
Wish I Wrote a Love Song holds what’s unspoken close, like a flicker of light still burning long after you’ve walked away.