Kah
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Kah

London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE

London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Band Alternative Singer/Songwriter

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"One of the best albums of 2010!"

The team at IndieLondon gave my album a five star review in Jun 2010. When it came to their "best of the year" round up they still felt it was that good! Thanks to the quirks of alphabetical order it is sitting there just above Kanye West! Thank you Indie London. - IndieLondon


"Portobello Acoustic Sessions live"

"Kah produced a sound reminiscent of the early nineties trip hop classics but with much more recent dance twists, painting theatricals scenes of Love, Death and Childhood memories interspersed with spoken word sections which kept everyone glued to their seats."

Review of my last live gig, Feb 4th 2010. - Thom Osborne


"24/7 Magazine 4.5/5 Album Review"

... electronica with a difference. Her dreamy voice is both sexy and eerie and her approach to music is unique. Her use of sound and her sense of rhythm are impeccable. A masterpiece from a deeply talented young woman. - Arash Torabi


"Popjustice.com"

Song of the day - 'Back Seat Driver' by Kah (Sept. 23rd 2008)

"Somewhere between Goldfrapp and Lykke Li..

We like. We like a lot."

- Peter Robinson


"Review of live performance for Recharged Radio"

"A wonderful, magical session. I think that was probably one of the best sessions we've ever had here on Recharged Radio. It was something to behold."
Jordan Thomas - speaking after my live session and interview on the Friday Forum, 14th May 2010. This performance is still available to download as a podcast on itunes. It is the Forum entitled "Kah-ables galore" and I am playing from about one hour in to the show and for half an hour. - Jordan Thomas


"Review of live performance at 93 Feet East, London in August 2010."

"Like Goldfrapp with substance. A rare talent. I have to say that, in all my time in bands and gigging, I have NEVER known someone to command such utter rapt silence from an audience. You really did have them in the palm of your hand."

This was posted on my facebook page by Minki, who was master of ceremonies of the event for Recharged Radio. - Minki Fiftyfoot


"Entertainment Focus 5/5 Review"

Forget all of the critics picks for 2010, the most exciting artist is Kah.

More Than Dawn is a fantastic record and unlike anything else you’ll hear this year. It’s remarkable that Kah has crafted the whole album in her bedroom. More Than Dawn is a record that demands to be heard and we beg you to go out and support this wonderful new artist.

More Than Dawn is an atmospheric trip full of cool beats and gorgeous vocals. Opening with the beat-driven Wanting To Be Haunted, it gets off to a roaring start. With a spooky melody, beats chunky enough for Bjork to feel proud and whispery vocals, the track sends shivers down your spine whilst immersing you in a new sound sensation. This freshness continues throughout the record and makes for an interesting, varied and experimental debut offering from this promising new artist.

Fugitive – Kah’s first release along with Back Seat Driver – is one of the album’s highlights. Mixing between fast-paced vocals, dark beats and dance rhythms the song manages to be incredibly catchy whilst being lyrically very powerful. Kah has a way of sounding sweet when she’s actually delivering devastating and raw lyrics. On the other side of things, Kah strips everything down for the beautifully fragile Kite which couldn’t be further away from the sound of Fugitive.

Highlights on the record include the pulsating electro-pop of July Song, the simple but effective Architect and album closer Sweet Jeremiah. The standout however is reserved for the beat-laden Dragonfly Boy. The track sounds like it should have been on Madonna’s Ray Of Light record and is the strongest track here. We hope that Kah releases it as a single in the future.

- Pip


"Best of Myspace Radio"

"Great new electro-tinged lady music ... not just going down one channel but spending time actually crafting her songs."
Gill Mills, best of Myspace podcast 78

Very honoured that 'Goose Girl' was included in one of the first 100 best of Myspace podcasts. Now aquiring legendary status as one of the best places to go to find the best new and unsigned music. I am in extremely good company on here. - Gill Mills


"Tastyfanzine 10/10 album review"

I am still amazed by this album.

Kah has a very original sound produced by her clever use of layers both through her vocals but also with the use of instruments and technology. It is hard to make a comparison to others due to this music’s distinctive originality. I can hear little bits of Bjork in some of Kah’s vocal tones and some of the organised randomness to each track.

It is hard to believe that the tracks are all done by Kah almost completely alone. The difference technique she uses is breathtaking. Tracks such as ‘Goose Girl’ make you view instruments such as violins completely differently. ‘Dragonfly Boy’ makes me think of ‘Blue Foundation’ and their track ‘Bonfire’ or ‘eyes on fire’. Kah’s ‘Architect’ is a beautifully simplistic piece much like Joanna Newsom’s music with a modern twist of spoken verse used alongside the flow of the vocals giving the piece a truly surreal up to the minute edge.

To truly understand this album you will have to listen to it and this I would strongly recommend. In Kah’s own words, “sometimes it’s like reading under the covers by torch light. Like time no longer exists…..I am a little girl lost in a forest of detail. In my songs are my dreams. In my dreams are my songs. I simply could not live without them.”

The time, effort, detail, imagination and talent that has gone into this album has resulted in me having to award my first ever 10/10 a real must for a good music collection although not wholly mainstream Kah’s music will have something for every taste so plug yourself in and live for a few minutes in the cascading sound of Kah’s dreams. - Imogen Davies


"IndieLondon 5/5 Album Review"

IF THERE’S any justice, it won’t be long before Kah becomes a huge star.

Her debut album, More Than Dawn is a truly spellbinding listen that showcases a pretty major talent. Beautifully composed, it features a stunning voice and some truly lush instrumentation that belies its somewhat DIY approach.

To best appreciate Kah’s achievement then consider this. The singer-songwriter is in charge of the entire creative process on the album, from inception to delivery.

Writing all the melodies, lyrics, beats and singing all the vocals, she performs and creates every layer on every instrument and then produces the songs too.

From listening to More Than Dawn, however, you’d be forgiven for thinking she had a massive production studio behind her and plenty of behind-the-scenes production help.

The album is so assured, so well produced and so imaginative that it makes Kah’s achievement all the more admirable – and demanding of widespread support.

Songs of real quality fly thick and fast from the speakers. Album opener Wanting To Be Haunted leads the charge, fusing a retro organ sound with a trippy beat and some vocals to drool for. It’s a hip entry point and an immediate attention grabber. Vocally, especially, Kah has a beguiling presence.

Fugitive, meanwhile, opens in atmospheric, almost whispered fashion, with an ethereal pulse underpinning it… before eventually dropping a really insistent back-beat and some slick electronic flourishes to bring out the best in the layered, menacing vocals.

The darkness inherent in lines such as “I only like it when you push me away” lends Kah’s vocals a dangerous feistiness.

In contrast, meanwhile, comes Kite, which finds her in dreamy Lykke Li vocal territory, finely balancing an almost innocent, child-like vocal around some cute electronics that evoke the image of a kite drifting between the clouds she sings about.

Back Seat Driver, meanwhile, adds another compelling, even dancefloor friendly, electronic beat over another ethereal vocal (call it Bjork-like if you will), while single Goose Girl strips things back to a capella form early on, before disarming you completely with its sparse but compelling electronic melodies.

There’s an almost cinematic sweep to Dragonfly Boy once it’s allowed to blossom, while July Song lays down more infectious beats and electronic loops while conjuring the type of song that should easily become a summer anthem if it gets noticed and promoted right.

Further highlights, meanwhile, come from the sparse, wintery November Song, which talks of collecting stars and enchants, and Architect, which unfolds from the simplest of acoustic backing to genuinely capture your heart.

Sweet Jeremiah then draws things to a close in slow-building, multi-layered fashion to offer a near-perfect farewell from an artist you’ll want to hear a lot more from in the future!

Kah, in short, has delivered something of a musical masterpiece with More Than Dawn and she deserves to bask in the warm glow of its surefire critical acclaim for sometime yet! - Jack Foley


"BBC Radio 6Music"

"Wow. Believe it or not Kah makes all that herself in her bedroom using a laptop, a mic and industrial amounts of coffee. Fantastic."
Tom Robinson, May 2nd, introducing my first ever UK national radio airplay.

Tom Robinson selected my song Fugitive for a coveted slot on his BBC Introducing "Fresh on the Net" show on national radio BBC6 Music. Then he played it again! Then he selected it to go on the 'Best of Introducing Mixtape' (side A) which means it was amongst the best tracks he heard over the three months April/May/June 2010. A real honour. Link to the mixtape playlist is below. - Tom Robinson


"dso audio album review"

An album so good, we almost had to come up with another award, album of the month, just to cope with it's wonderfulness.... A brilliantly inventive, surprising and rewarding debut. You can sense the rigour and intellect of classical music combined with honestly laid-bare electronica. It is a sublime and potently rich field that is all too little explored and Kah goes a long way to establishing a manifesto and blueprint for the genre that is likely to inspire and intimidate other artists in equal measure. Our biggest tip in years for mainstream success. - Rob Dyer


"Pure Groove Records, London"

Review of Debut Single:

"Kah has been producing for a while but is now starting to gather some attention. Perfect blissful music for a warm hazy day with the people you love. Enjoy."


Review of mini CD/EP:

"Really liking this mini EP that was dropped in the shop. A touch of The Knife in here. A combination of quirky electronica and ethereal vocals. Kah's voice is something quite unique." - Simon Singleton


"Spark FM, local North East UK Radio Station"

This was in response to the track Goose Girl which I am using to promote my forthcoming album.

"I really enjoyed it, and gave it a play on the radio show last week. It's a new music show that I present, and we get feedback from the listeners on all the tracks we play. This one generated a good response too, many listeners really liked it and were sending positive comments over, saying things like "it's different" and "unique" etc. Lots of them were already familiar with Kah too which was great. Will be playing again this week." - Chris Felton


Discography

My debut album "More than Dawn" was released in June 2010. It was recently named as one of the best albums of 2010 by IndieLondon magazine and sits proudly on their list (thanks to the perks of alphabetical order) just above Kanye West!

Over half the songs from the album have already received press attention and radio airplay.

The song 'Fugitive' was played on Radio Eins in Germany and twice by Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 6Music. It was also selected by him as one of the best tracks submitted to the show this year and featured on the 'Best of BBC 6Music Introducing Mixtape' which was available as a podcast from the BBC for three months from June to September 2010.

The song 'Back Seat Driver' has just been chosen to be featured on the Delta Airlines/Noise Pop Indie Music channel and will be available on all Delta Airlines flights worldwide throughout February 2011. 'Back Seat Driver' also received the rare accolade of being named a 'Song of the Day' on Popjustice.com, sandwiched between The Killers and Ladyhawke. Along with it's inclusion on the album it was also chosen for release as a special limited edition 7" vinyl single by the independent label Random Acts of Vinyl.

The song "Goose Girl" was single of the week on IndieLondon and has been played on the BBC Introducing show on Radio Kent, on Gill Mills' Best of Myspace Podcast, Recharged Radio, Spark Radio for the North East UK, Radio Ireland, Radio Tees, the British Forces Network and has been included in various independent podcasts in Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and Scandinavia.

'July Song' was played on Recharged Radio, the British Forces Network and on the WFUV Vin Scelsa show Idiot's Delight in New York. It was also selected for inclusion on the October 2010 daily playlist for California based internet station 'Women's Radio.'

'Wanting to be Haunted' has been played on BBC Radio Kent Introducing, on the Roots show for Radio Eins in Germany and twice selected by Arash Torabi for the 24/7 music show on the internet and in the South West UK.

Nearly every song from the album has been singled out for special attention in the music press. It seems everyone has their own, and often a different, favourite track. The album itself is now the recipient of some exceptional reviews in the press including a 5/5 from IndieLondon, a 5/5 from Entertainment Focus and a 10/10 from Tasty Fanzine. These reviews can be accessed from my press page.

In 2009 I was commissioned to contribute a cover of any song from the 80's for Buffetliber DJ's Rewind project. My electro cover of "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen sits alongside covers by Little Boots, Dragonette and Au Revoir Simone. It was played on WFUV's 'The Alternate Side' show in New York in the summer of 2010 and continues to be downloaded regularly from various sources on the internet.

As a result of my album, my single airplay and my live sets for Recharged Radio I was nominated as one of their best female artists of 2010.

I continue to grow and my music continues to get better and better. Watch this space!

Photos

Bio

My name is Kah.

I write songs and I sing them, record them and produce them.

I do this in my bedroom in a tiny corner of London.

I write all the melodies, lyrics, beats and sings all the vocals.
I perform and create every layer on every instrument and then produce the songs myself.

I do all of this using a simple combination of a Macbook, a mic, a keyboard, Logic pro, Absynth and a lot of coffee.

I like to take my Macbook out gigging with a Kaoss Pad and a whole host of effects pedals. I like to surprise people by introducing my electronic music with poetry, which is often written fresh for each performance but is always written as a specific way into each song I perform.

That is how I write and perform my songs.

But this ... this is how it feels when I writing and performing them:

Sometimes it’s like making breakfast; beats like toast, hooks like butter, vocals like honey.

Sometimes it’s like blowing bubbles. Off they go in their four minute worlds. Simple. Pop.

Sometimes it’s like taking a photograph. The capturing of something elusive.

Sometimes it’s like trying to align the stars. Somehow holding together with music a place and a story so I can set free the emotions that go with them.

Sometimes it's like travelling. Taking myself off and unpacking my suitcase of vocals in different atmospheres and environments. I like each song to be different. To have it's own unique air.

Sometimes it’s like reading under the covers by torchlight. Like time no longer exists and all that exists is that one little beat I am trying to get right or that one note the violin is playing that doesn’t quite sit with the cello. I am a little girl lost in a forest of details.

Sometimes it’s like living on a tiny electronic desert island in my bedroom. I go mad with it. I am a one woman band, the leader of my own orchestra, the conductor of my own choir, an eight limbed drumming god. It can get a bit like that bit in Pirates of the Caribbean where they drink all the rum and dance on the beach.

In my songs are my dreams. In my dreams are my songs. I simply could not live without them and by taking them out to gigs, they can live and breathe too.