Having come out with an EP earlier this year, which is also fantastic, Kathleen comes back with another four-song EP. There is a lot of dread as the EP was mostly written during quarantine, but then again who wasn’t filled with dread. “August” kicks us off with a song revolving around how love sometimes doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would. Kathleen’s voice roars with emotion that she couldn’t hold back while thinking of her past love. “Dark Side of the Moon” was written at the beginning of the quarantine as Kathleen packed her car and drove through four states, with many of her belongings to her family’s home. There is some hope in the beautiful folk song with learning to take what you can, including watching the birds sing and the grass grow. The song ends as nature takes over the track, giving us all hope.
“Can’t Sleep” is that feeling that everyone has: that everything currently happening is a dream, but if we can wake up it will all be over. There’s so much uncertainty and while it would be nice to just snap awake, we need to figure out how to come together to defeat everything that is happening. It’s the song off the EP that would find the dancehalls, if we could get there right now. “Glass Piano” closes us out with a song that seems like it could have come from Fiona Apple, with some great piano work and layers of vocals on top of each other. It’s a beautiful track showing what Kathleen is capable of and what could be coming next.
Kathleen is one of Warner Records newest signees. Raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado but now based in Los Angeles, she draws from her poetry and environmentalist background in her conscious spin on the singer/songwriter formula. On her debut EP, Kathleen I, listeners can hear traces of Joni Mitchell’s down-to-earth folk, Fiona Apple’s idiosyncratic art pop, and touches of contemporary pop production, an engaging combination that showcases the depth of Kathleen’s vocals and her song writing potential.
Make sure to listen to both EP’s if you haven’t yet. Released by Warner Records
