KAT GOLDMAN: Gypsy Girl
KAT GOLDMAN
GYPSY GIRL
Goldman, Kat
Kat Goldman grew up in Toronto and won a dance scholarship for college. Soon after, her dance passions were replaced by a 24/7 need to listen to Joni Mitchell albums. She turned to songwriting herself.
It was over a decade ago, at the Summerfolk festival in Owen Sound, Canada, that I first heard Kat. Her voice: mesmerizing, her lyrics: beyond common … and I found myself humming her melodies days after the festival. The quality of her music registered strongly with me, and I thought I’d keep her on my radar. But she seemed to disappear.
I read that James Keelaghan had suggested The Duhks cover one of her tunes, which they did, and that Dar Williams had been singing her praises. But where was she? All I had was her 2001 release, appropriately titled “The Great Disappearing Act.”
It turned out that just when she had plans to leave Toronto for NYC, she was in a life-altering accident. A car came crashing through the front of a bakery and she became pinned to the wall with multiple fractures. She had years of rehabilitation and hospitalization.
And then, tadaaa! Her third cd Gyspy Girl arrived this fall.
The collection opens with Kat’s “Just a Walk Tonight,” about strolling around Boston and observing the city where she has moved to study literature. Several of these new songs are in response to class reading assignments. Overall, the songs on Gypsy Girl explore pangs of running or staying … belonging vs merely watching, all against the landscapes of the two cities she knows best: Toronto and Boston.
Other less talented or lazier writers fall short of a final edit, but Goldman creates educated lyrics that are finished. In addition, she has a real talent for melody, launching tunes that are lasting and varied. She occasionally adds nonsense syllables that soar or haunt, and she knows just how to achieve a hook without overdoing it.
She is also blessed with a unique voice. It is undeniably Kat when you hear it: expressive and clear with a slight quiver, a real plus in the music world where having an identifiable voice is essential. And, happily, the mix of the disc wisely allows those vocals the presence they deserve.
This is not only on my top 10 picks for 2013, but in my top 10 for the last several years. With Gypsy Girl, Kat Goldman has captured the essence of the inner insecure voice that nags us to pursue places and people that can bring satisfaction.
— Angela Page