Seattle-based singer/songwriter Katie Davis writes beautiful, melancholic songs about the ambiguities of love and loss…and she performs them fearlessly with a voice that is as clear and strong as it is soft. It’s a combination rarely found, but one that speaks to an enormous wealth of talent. When her EP – Three Songs – landed in my mailbox, it came with a tease from Performer Magazine: “This is the type of CD you listen to when you’re drunk and alone, contemplating calling your exes to ask them why they stopped loving you.” And I can see that, but I also feel in these songs the cautious, slow, inward steps toward making peace with something beautiful that just never delivered.
Katie’s first EP – Terrible, Terrible (available for free on Bandcamp)- really delivers on this feeling in the song “Los Angeles,” which benefits from that album’s intimate, acoustic sound. With her new EP – Three Songs – Davis reaches into territory that recalls early Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, or perhaps The Story. While the same sadness tinges the stories in these songs, the production now incorporates percussion, strings, and finely layered vocals (as in “Fisherman”). The result is absolutely beautiful.
What I love about Three Songs, and also Terrible, Terrible, is the way that they demand our attention by just turning down the world beyond our hearts. These songs have a magic about them that pulls us back to those thin spots in Memory’s ice…and in this, a way of making beauty out of an imperfect past. These songs make you want to go out and walk with your thoughts, even if it’s Winter or the rain is falling… And that’s something I find truly compelling…
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s “Fisherman” from Three Songs:
[audio:https://www.shh-listen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01-Fisherman.mp3|titles=01 Fisherman] Download
You can purchase Three Songs for $3 on Bandcamp, and you can also get Terrible, Terrible for free! That one really does feel like a steal…
Check out Katie on her website, twitter, or YouTube. And while you’re at it, go grab one of these excellent t-shirts…