live music review: CALLmeKAT, rockwood music hall, 15 september 2011

When I was approached to cover CALLmeKAT, moniker of Danish low-fi pop songstress Katrine Ottossen, the first video I watched was “Bug in a Web”, which helped her make a big splash South by Southwest this past year.

From that video, you can immediately see that Kat is a beautiful, soft-spoken, feminine woman who is making music that sounds pretty cool because it is heavily dependent upon an old keyboard. It is more interesting than a lot of the other indie stuff out there right now, but I was left wondering, is there any more of a tangible feeling behind her indie sound?

Then, I saw her live.

On September 15, 2011, I saw CALLmeKAT perform a short set at New York City’s famous Rockwood Music Hall, a bar and venue known for its amazing rotation of up-and-comers. Her set was in support of her newly released album When Owls Are Out, a Pledge Music project whose proceeds partly benefit the international humanitarian charity Doctors without Borders.

While the band only had three musicians for the release show–Kat herself, legendary bassist Sara Lee (of the B-52’s) and drummer Joe Magistro–the sound they produced was more than capable of filling the room of excited fans. Kat gave off a great energy onstage that quickly broke through the cool exterior of her downtown vibe, while delivering a truly unique and entertaining set.

My single favorite moment of the set was her performance of the revamped and reworked single “Flower in the Night” that rocked Rockwood (pun intended?) harder than I could have thought possible. The song features strange instrumental additions from something kind of like a Kalamazoo on top of funky bass line and tight rhythm, producing something much more captivating than the overproduced pop song of the same name that appears on her record, 2008’s Fall Down. Judging from the reaction of the crowd, CALLmeKAT excels most when delivering these indie pop-rock anthems over the quieter songs. Their killer live set made me really excited for what comes next for the band, and I anxiously await the day when I can tell my roommate that I saw CALLmeKAT “way back when”. For you, faithful Lip readers, there is a set of interview questions to come.