Kat Edmonson, Way Down Low

How a singer with a single album could get so under my skin might be a mystery, if I was talking about someone other than Kat Edmonson. 

Back in 2010, Edmonson, with her beautiful voice, enchanted with her debut album Take To The Sky. On that album she took classic standards and contemporary songs and reworked them just enough to build bridges between songs that spanned decades. It was a very special album in part because of her voice and because of her song choices and arrangements. It quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year and Edmonson, one of my favorite artists. 

Now, finally, Kat is back with her follow up album Way Down Low. To say that I am excited about this album is an understatement. Having said this, in full disclosure, I will admit that Edmonson could be singing the dictionary and I would be excited. Her voice is that good. 

On Way Down Low, Edmonson takes a bit of a departure from her first album. Gone are the reworked standards and contemporary songs, like the Cure's Just Like Heaven. Instead a perfect blend of Edmonson's self-written and purposefully chosen songs meld together to produce what she has described as a kind of 'breakup record.' Having this central theme, based on a breakdown in a relationship and her move from Austin to NYC, gives the album a more immediate purpose than her first album and it provides the listener with a direction and journey to follow through her songs.

As on Take To The Sky, Kat's voice shines like no contemporary female artist of her  generation. There is a timeless quality to her voice. As she weaves her stories and songs of love and loss, Edmondson's vocal style can sound at once like it fits in quite nicely with a bevy of mid-century female recording artists, and contemporaries who have the best of today's pop sensibilities. 

What Else Can I Do   

Mostly, Kat has just an amazing natural gift for filling the musical space that her voice occupies with warmth, grace, restraint, and subtlety. It create an emotional tie to her songs and lyrics that grabs a hold of the listener and simply won't let go. While this is not a completely lost art today, there are simply fewer and fewer artists that transcend today's musical trends and styles and own their own unique space. Edmonson is certain one of them and one of my favorites. I absolutely love Way Down Low and I am once again glad to be bewitched by her. 


Lucky