Review- Katie Callahan: EXTRAORDINARY
Katie Callahan, a Baltimore-based indie-pop/Americana/folk singer-songwriter is an effervescent beam of light, who brilliantly shines through on her third record and second studio project, EXTRAORDINARY. Without a doubt she delivers a refreshingly scintillating album with incredible inspiring interwoven messages that she hopes, “that whoever needs it would find.”
Photo by Lindsey Patkos
This record stretches the Americana and folk genres and bends them into different shapes, moving from acoustic instrumentation to sweeping and emotional indie/alternative pop anthems. All the stories told in EXTRAORDINARY come from her personal experiences, be it with mental health or interpersonal relationships or confronting old narratives that no longer serve and need to be painfully excavated.
For EXTRAORDINARY, Callahan paired up once again with producer/collaborator Matthew Odmark (Jars of Clay), who worked with her on the previous album The Water Comes Back. Hannah Holbrook lends a delicate and restrained hand on keys, Megan Coleman and Luke Sullivant build a supportive and powerful foundation on drums and bass, respectively, and Lindsey Miller shimmers on electric guitar. I found this collaborative effort exponentially better than her previous album and to me speaks volumes about her growth as an artist and her dedication to hone her craft.
There is a marvelously inspirational story behind Katie Callahan altering her course in life and having the courage and determination despite a 12-year hiatus from music to suddenly jump back in and chase down her dreams like a snow leopard chasing down an ibex. Living firsthand by the adage, “No matter how long you have traveled in the wrong direction, you always have the choice to turn around.” Her newfound clarity and audacity to follow her heart and dare to dream again after perhaps simply settling for what life offered. To dig down deep and have the personal fortitude to pursue another path without any earthly idea how it would turn out is truly an uplifting example of faith, strength and persistence. Lessons and qualities we all should aspire to incorporate into our lives.
Don’t delay, listen and rejoice in this record and while you are at it follow Katie Callahan on Instagram. I found her posts to be raw, genuine and heartfelt. Here is one of my favorite posts of hers. I did my best to transcribe and encapsulate her message from one of her video posts.
“I’m not broken. I am sad and I make mistakes and things are hard and I often make them harder but I am not broken. I don’t need to be rescued or put back together. I am collecting my own pieces. I am gathering the material of me and I am lovingly looking at those things that I used to separate those things from myself. Forgiving them one small act of kindness at a time. I still act out and I still mess up. Because I am purely human, stumbling through my own wild life. Looking for the path with the most sun that leads to water and baby, it's all water baby, baby it's all water.”
I don’t have any direct musical comparisons to offer, but I do believe that if you are fans of Florence + The Machine or The Head and the Heart then you will also very much enjoy Katie Callahan. This album may more aptly be described as a journey and once you press play you will find yourself fully immersed in a surreal world and revel, marvel and frolic in traversing the path you find yourself on. Hopefully you too find your own true personal path with the most sun. This is my new vibe. I hope it becomes yours as well. After all, we are all human and deserve to find as much sunshine as we can.
This album is dedicated to women getting older and inspired by the yogic concept of chakras as physical indicators of spiritual concepts with each track communicating a part of the varied experience of living. I don’t have much to offer in the way of chakras as I had to look it up. However, I do know that the music, lyricism and production of this album beautifully collides into something magical. Not to mention just flat out how wonderfully honest and uplifting I found EXTRAORDINARY to be. Oh! Chakras are usually considered to be seven in number, which explains why there are seven tracks on this album. I guess an old dog can actually learn something new after all.
My favorite three songs on EXTRAORDINARY are in perfect alignment, just not necessarily in rank order: "Love Song For A Best Friend," "Extraordinary" and "Magnificent Beast." Callahan also hoped to create an album that was a safe space for women to embrace what has been deemed unworthy, undesirable, shameful, or unladylike. She delivers on her aspirations in spades and along the way created a powerful anthem, “Extraordinary,” which is my favorite song on the record and it totally blows me away with the craftsmanship, delivery and flat out how fantastic it makes me feel when it's spinning.
Perhaps Mr. Frost overlooked a third path in those yellow woods? If you are looking for a path with more sun that leads to water, let Katie Callhan be your guide, transform your soul and remind you that you are not alone in this world. We all occasionally fall short and we all deserve as much magic, happiness and enchantment as we can find. Katie Callahan embodies and transposes these qualities into her music and onto the listener. Eloquently and effortlessly injecting them into your being.
“Every ordinary thing is extraordinary if you shine the right light on it.” ~ Katie Callahan (Instagram)
I couldn’t agree more and the resident Pop expert in my household, my 10 year old daughter, also gives Katie Callahan two thumbs up. Which is very high praise considering she often can’t be bothered to listen to anything other than T-Swizzle.
Find out more about Katie at the links below:
