Kimaya Diggs Preserves a Fleeting New England Summer on “Plants (Still Grow)”
The arrival of fall gives “Plants (Still Grow)” an especially poignant frame. Released as the days begin to shorten, Kimaya Diggs’ latest single looks back on a New England summer whose warmth has already started slipping into memory. Rather than resisting that passage, the song examines what remains after a season changes.
A relationship sits at the center of the piece. Diggs focuses on the shared moments that acquire meaning gradually, often without announcing themselves as important. The line “Make me laugh while we make / All the memories that will define / Who we are / When we look back on this summer” places the couple in two moments at once: living through the season and imagining how it will later be remembered.
That double perspective suits an album concerned with the ways people understand their lives. Green, due October 2, asks whether belonging comes from familiarity with the land or intimacy with a chosen community. On “Plants (Still Grow),” Diggs does not force a distinction. The relationship and the landscape become parts of the same recollection.
The music video directed by Eli Howe brings viewers into the physical setting behind the song. Much of it was filmed in Diggs’ backyard, a place she associates with black walnut trees, wild plants, fireflies, red squirrels, joy, and peace. The setting is personal rather than symbolic in the abstract. It is a piece of land she knows through years of close observation.
Diggs’ connection to New England stretches back to her childhood in South Hadley, Massachusetts, near Mount Holyoke College. The oldest of three sisters, she grew up in a household shaped by dance, 1970s soul and funk, classical music, show tunes, singing, and cello. She also performed with her siblings in the Knock a Noodlehead Sister Singers, touring schools and libraries.
That history helps explain why Diggs treats performance and storytelling as connected practices. Green extends that approach across its music and visual presentation, with a video created for every song. The album also gives Diggs her most complete opportunity yet to direct a recording as lead producer, working from a clear understanding of each song’s emotional purpose.
Photo credit: Jo Chattman
Its sound draws from indie pop, soul, R&B, folk, rock, and spoken word, with Diggs citing artists including Stevie Wonder, Minnie Riperton, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and Corinne Bailey Rae among the music closest to her. Basic tracks were recorded at Nashville’s Barnfire Creative with drummer Erick Slick, bassist Rhees Williams, and additional musicians. Jacob Rosazza and Ben Sanders contributed production, while Scott Hundley handled mixing.
Before the full album arrives, “Plants (Still Grow)” can be heard here, with its video available here. Diggs will celebrate the record October 10 at Northampton’s Academy of Music Theatre before touring through the Northeast, Southeast, and West Coast. The song holds summer still for a few minutes, preserving a moment when love and landscape seemed capable of answering the same question.
