The Portland Playlist welcomed Kathryn Claire to the studio for an evening of girl talk and of course, music. This is one busy, talented lady who is often touring overseas. She came home to Portland, from a tour in the Netherlands, just in time for a show she is excited to play on November 11th at Doug Fir Lounge with friends Casey Neill & The Norway Rats and Sassparilla. She’ll leave soon thereafter to tour Japan for the second time this year.
Kathryn Claire, photo by Teri Briggs
Kathryn Claire is one of those talents that has so much charisma onstage, coupled with a smile that lights up the largest arena, that you can’t help but be totally captivated by her. She has “spent years cultivating her own style and approach to music as a violinist, guitar player, singer, and songwriter.” To that end she considers her latest album (scheduled for an early 2017 release), “Bones Will Last,” to be the closest representation of her authentic voice. Ten tracks in all, five are lyric driven and five are instrumental. It is an album “both hopeful and heartbreaking, with deeply personal and starkly universal themes featuring performances by Zak Borden, Allen Hunter, and Don Henson.” It was recorded at Secret Society and The Hallowed Halls and will be released on vinyl and CD. She launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the packaging and marketing of the new album, surpassing her original goal.
Kathryn Claire, photo by Teri Briggs
The first portion of the show focused on a couple of Kathryn’s influences which crossed genres very much like her original material does. These included Joni Mitchell’s “Carey,” Vivaldi’s “Concerto in A Minor for Violin,” Radiohead’s “Electioneering,” and Erik Satie’s “Gnossienne No 1.” Mitchell is an influence on so many levels as a lyricist, composer, and how she fuses genres. The Vivaldi piece she studied at the age of 7 and is one she often returns to. The Radiohead song is off the album, OK Computer. The song’s guitar intro sparked her desire to pick up the electric guitar and the album is guaranteed to get her dancing. Erik Satie is her favorite piano composer for the simplicity of his writing. Another influence was her Grandfather who was also a violinist. In fact, she uses his instrument in her performances and feels that it channels his gypsy jazz style whenever she plays it.
Kathryn Claire, photo by Teri Briggs
During the second half of the show, we played three recorded tracks off Bones Will Last, “Sweet Chariot,” “Last Day,” and “Syringa.” For the live portion of the show, Kathryn performed “Bones Will Last,” “The Forest Flower Set,” (you can watch the video here), and “Up and Down,” a new one she and Allen Hunter wrote on their latest tour in Belgium. You can watch the Facebook Live videos of this performance here and here. She has released two videos to songs off the new album, “Forest Flower” mentioned above, and “The Fugue.”
As mentioned earlier, Kathryn’s tours often take her away from Portland so follow her website and Facebook page to find out when she’ll be back for a show because this is one lady you don’t want to miss. If you didn’t get a ticket to her 11/11 show, her next Portland appearance will be 12/10 at the Winona Grange.
Kathryn Claire, photo by Teri Briggs
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Kathryn Claire, photo by Teri Briggs
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