The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Arts September 15, 2006

Myers Begins Tour at the Cat

An expectant crowd appeared at the Cat in the Cream last Saturday, to welcome fledgling singer/songwriter Kate Myers to the debut show of her tour across the Midwest to New York.

A room full of newly-arrived students huddled around plates of the Cat’s famous cookies,  confident in the college’s ability to draw in fresh talent.

After her graduation from Bard College this spring, Myers took off in pursuit of a career on the indie/folk scene. She is looking for a style that is “edgier,” one that moves away from the bland regularity of pop music.

Her interest in songwriting began amongst the drama and angst of being a high school freshman, and escalated to a point where she dreams of signing with a record label in the future.

Myers played a short set comprised mostly of her own songs, beginning on the piano with a piece titled “False Interpretation.” It was a ghostly song, sung in a strong, resonant voice: “I know that this isn’t real, but you cannot leave with saying goodbye to me.”

“You put the morbid one out first so that everything seems uphill from there,” said Myers.

In an effort to pick up the mood, Myers then played a string of stream-of-consciousness tunes. The simple melodies smoothed over by the notes of the piano were soothing, though at times the songs took a turn towards the predictable.

A few songs into her set, Myers switched to the acoustic guitar, which seemed to lend her some of the edge that she is seeking in her music. Her voice counterbalanced the instrument in a satisfying way, a sort of tribute to her unquestionably strong vocal talent.

Her covers of the The Cure’s “Love Song” and Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” were perfectly fine, but the lyrics to her early song “Uncertain,” were more impressive. The piece dealt with the classic confusion of being young, as well as the immobile feeling of optimism in an imperfect world.

Closely following was Myers’ song “Shifting in the Stars,” another well-articulated set of lyrics describing her more intimate thoughts as she moves closer and closer to the reality of adult life, expressed in phrases like, “the world grows more in every direction.”

Overall, Myers has pushed off the wall into the mad race of the music world without faltering. Her live performance is still second to her recording, which has the benefit of being fleshed out by a full band, but Myers has the potential to make it on the indie/folk scene.


 
 
   

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