Kate Kohler

"Songs for piano and voice," simply stated on the cover, is exactly right. But that description doesn't tell of the kind of piano and voice hidden behind this album. Its range is from pretty and twinkling to dark and chanting, Frank Sinatra's tunes revisited to a rock and roll tribute to the Beatles. Kate Kohler's "Elusive Victory" is dark and mysterious, lovely and gentle, and calming and energizing all at once.

With a piano that wails in a Tori Amos, hard-rain style, then veers into avant-garde jazz, then into a gentle New Age caress, Kohler's album could be left there as a complete work of art. But she takes it a step farther. Kohler has a voice similar to Mary Fahl (from that short-lived 90s' band October Project). It is throaty and melodious, like the sound a tiger-lily would make if it had the power of song. Her versatile piano and honeyed vocal style make for a mysterious and magical album - unpredictable rather than solid patterned. If you enjoy musicians who let the music carry them, this is an album to consider.

"Elusive Victory" is available at Rockin Rudy's and Budget Tapes and CDs.

Erica Parfit is a free-lance writer who reviews music for the Missoulian.

Send your recording to Parfit, c/o the Missoulian, P.O. Box 8029, Missoula MT 59807