Album review: Victim or the Heroine by Katie Brianna

When Katie Brianna released her debut album, Dark Side of the Morning, in mid-2013 I wrote, ‘Dark Side of the Morning is a debut album that promises much about its creator - and because she has taken her time to craft it and release it, I have every confidence that it is the first step in a long career. I genuinely cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.’

The next release has come, and Victim or the Heroine lives up to that early promise, as well as demonstrating that Brianna has matured as a singer and songwriter. While she has moved further away from country music convention, that in itself suggests that she has asked questions of herself, especially when it comes to the best way to deploy her extraordinary voice. She has taken the emotion and storytelling of country music and found a style that allows her to relax when appropriate, to let her voice float above the song – where it belongs, given its often ethereal quality. Yet this is also an album that is rooted in reality: love isn’t perfect, wrong turns are taken in life, and some days are melancholy.

Shane Nicholson produced the album; his ability to discern what’s at the core of an artist and their work, and to never lose that in the work of creating an album, is an exceptional skill. Only Brianna and Nicholson know if he’s the one responsible for making the instruments the supporting cast to Brianna’s leading turn (even though the studio band included Glen Hannah and Matt Fell). This puts more pressure on her – to make the lyrics and the vocals the best they can be – but she is worthy of the responsibility and the attention.

So I’ve taken three paragraphs to come to this conclusion: this is just a bloody lovely album. Brianna is impossible to ignore – not that anyone would want to – and somehow she combines dreaminess with a consciousness that is anchored in everyday life. Which makes Victim or the Heroine a salve and an escape, and a fitting second album for an important artist. 

Victim or the Heroine is out now through MGM Distribution.

www.katiebrianna.com

Tamworth: the picks of the gigs

Make that my picks of the gigs ... These are the artists I'm most looking forward to seeing at this year's Tamworth Country Music Festival. [All dates given are January 2014.]


Jess Holland

21  - Tudor Hotel Front Bar,  5.30 p.m.

23  - Qurindi RSL, 6 p m.

24  - Tudor Hotel Back Bar, 12 p.m. 

Ashleigh Dallas
21 - West Tamworth Leagues Club, 5 p.m.

Tori Darke
21 - West Tamworth Leagues Club, 8 p.m.

The Hillbilly Killers

21 - Tamworth Services Club, 9.30 p.m.

Brad Butcher
22 - Tamworth Services Club, 9 a.m.
23 - Tudor Hotel, upstairs, 10 p.m.

Katie Brianna

22 - Tamworth Services Club, 9 a.m.

23 - Tudor Hotel, upstairs, 10 p.m.

The McClymonts
22 - TRECC, 2 p.m.

Kristy Cox
22 - The Pub, 8 p.m.

Shane Nicholson
23 - The Family Hotel, 7 p.m.

Catherine Britt
23 - The Pub, 8.30 p.m.

Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes
24 - The Family Hotel, 12 p.m.

Audrey Auld
24 - North Tamworth Bowling Club, 2 p.m.

Karl Broadie and Katie Brianna

24 - Tamworth Tennis Club, 4.30 p.m.

Album review: Dark Side of the Morning by Katie Brianna

There is always something incredibly touching about the sound of someone laying bare their heart in a song or on an album. From the first verse of 'What it Means', the first song on Katie Brianna's new album, Dark Side of the Morning, that is what we hear: her heart, plaintive and yearning. What that immediately signifies is a brave performer - a brave songwriter, too - who is prepared to show all of her cards right from the start.

It's a dangerous gamble: the performer can't control the listener's reaction. Being so exposed to the listener may go wrong, especially when we venture into the second, title, track and there is that heart again, coming through the arc of Katie's voice. But it doesn't go wrong. The vulnerability that is on display from the start of this album is also its strength - and the strength of its creator. When an artist makes such a gamble - to show her entire hand - she shows us that she has nothing to hide and also, perhaps, that part of her knows that we will like what we hear. So there's an audaciousness there, too, and it starts to emerge by the third track, 'Oh Night', and by then we are definitely on the ride and there until the end.

The musical influences on Dark Side of the Morning are strongly alt-country and Americana but there are some traditional Irish sounds there too. Country music is a genre steeped in traditions; to acknowledge them in a substantial way - within the structure of a song rather than throwing out a random sound or bar here and there - is a mark of respect to the artists who have come before. 

This album seems like a work of respect and tradition and of a young woman who is finding her own musical path through them. By understanding where she's come from, Katie can better chart where she's going. Leading her through is her distinctive voice, which is full bodied and sure. It is a voice that could have found its way to jazz, yet it sounds perfectly at home in country music. 

Dark Side of the Morning is an accomplished piece of work. It is hugely interesting - to me, at least - that in a short space of time we've had Melody Pool and now Katie Brianna, both women in their early twenties, releasing very sophisticated albums, both as independent releases. I don't know whether they have both chosen to be independent artists or if events just turned out that way, but if anything independence has allowed them both to choose the best people to work on their albums, with the attendant outstanding results. 

Dark Side of the Morning is a debut album that promises much about its creator - and because she has taken her time to craft it and release it, I have every confidence that it is the first step in a long career. I genuinely cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

Dark Side of the Morning is out now.

www.katiebrianna.com