Kate Evans: Press

Kate Evans has had her fair share of musical training. She grew up with gospel and bluegrass music in Manhattan, Kansas and attended Juilliard and Rutgers. Her voice is gentle, but has some power behind it - reminiscent of Paula Cole, Suzanne Vega, Ani DiFranco and Sade.

Evans broke away from her band, isoe, in 1996 and "Release" is her first CD.

The lyrics are inspiring, the voice is one-of-a-kind and the overall sound is as beautiful as music gets. It is evident that Evans loves music as she pours her heart into these inspiring songs. The lyrics piqued my interest
on the first track and it stayed piqued throughout the CD.

Type of music: folksy, pop-py, gentle, inspiring music with the emphasis on Evans' vocals

Hometown: New York City

Notable: Evans' mom, the church organist, used to let her sit up in the balconies and listen to her play instead of attending Sunday school...apparently, it paid off.

Highs: Evans proves her strong songwriting ability on every track. In "Beautiful," Evans' voice is backed up with only a little percussion and piano as she carries the listener through a "beautiful" ballad about life's choices.
("Sometimes you just have to choose the left fork or the right/and hope the chain reaction brings you somewhere that you like.") In "Trading Apology for Apology," Evans shows her soulful side, while she pulls out her hip and trendy side on "Blind" with electric percussion and her charged voice. "Ice Storm" tells an intriguing story about past love and how she has moved on ("Some man sent me flowers today/I'd forgotten people do that.") Evans then shows her harder, more electric side with the charged "Dangerous Woman," which rounds out the CD. Evans has the way of expressing feelings like that one that many people have probably thought, but not been able to say.

Lows: I spent 10 minutes trying to come up with some low points, but to no avail.

Fans: If you like Sarah McLaughlan, Ani DiFranco, Paula Cole, Shown Colvin or Suzanne Vega, Kate Evans will rock your la femme-music world.

Cheers to Kate Evans for putting herself out there with her tell-all lyrics that are so easy to relate to and for combining a soothing percussion, bass and piano sound that complements her amazing voice. Evans' "Release" will take you away to another world - enjoy!

Sometimes she's funny, sometimes she makes Joni Mitchell's "Blue" sound like They Might Be Giants, but she can really sing those beautiful melodies she writes. Spare and a little chilling, maybe. Look for it. Carefully. Soon.

She is part classical, part jazz, part folk, and all original. Her punchy lyrics have the spirit of Dar Williams and the wit of Ani DiFranco at times, as she sings, "The bird breathes, the air is fine. He limps on one leg but he lives in a gold mine," in "The Gold Around You."

The theme is predominantly lost love but she also tackles politics and the environment. "Francis of the Landfill" is a pretty, poignant song where she points out that, "nothing's forever except god and a styrofoam cup." She experiments with vocal techniques including some percussive acapella sounds on the fast-moving "Blind."

Kate wanders back and forth between slow, sweet ballads imparting just her voice and the piano, and more driving, layered songs. "Me as an Amputee" is a perfect sad, passionate ballad. Contrast this with "Would You Mind?" which is a catchy, light-hearted jazz number about lust. She croons, "My leg wasn't touching yours at that movie 'cause I didn't have enough room."

She ends with "Dangerous Woman," an empowered song where she asserts her independence at last. Marty Beller drives the song with his drum work and Marc Schmied integrates a bass line. This song is a fitting end to a well-produced, fun album.