K.C. MCKANZIE

Hers is not an easy name to get right, but K.C. proves a singer-songwriter who, on the evidence of her third and fourth albums received recently for review, is well worth your close attention. Actually, DryLand is the latest of K.C.’s offerings, and although on balance I think it probably engages me marginally more than Hammer And Nails both titles still have lots to commend them. Of course, since they contain exclusively self-penned material, one would expect to undergo a period of acclimatisation to K.C.’s personal style before reaping the rewards that are obviously there for the taking. It’s a bit frustrating tho’, that available biographical and background info on K.C. is rather scant (do we assume she’s US-born and bred?), and virtually all the press coverage on her music thus far seems to originate in Germany!
But it’s useful to know that after a mid-teens baptism in the music of The Band, then Beefheart and Tori Amos, it was a meeting with Joe “Budi” Budinsky (and his record collection!) that would appear to have been the catalyst for the unleashing of K.C.’s creative muse back in 2004. Since which time, Budi and his bass, banjo and percussion have become permanent musical partners for K.C.’s own voice and guitars.
Her music is also quite hard to pin down as far as genre is concerned, for she hops and flits across and back over, and sometimes straddles, that awkward boundary-line between Americana and Brit-folk s/s, with shades of Leonard Cohen angst and old-time wistfulness thrown into the mix too, and musically speaking there are sometimes even mild folk-rock touches, especially on DryLand with its generally more extensive use of drums and percussion (albeit only on selected tracks) to provide the rhythm element.
It’s both curious and interesting, though, that despite the beautiful and unpretentious sparseness of her music, the stripped-down nature of most of K.C.’s arrangements and the softly personal, intimate, passionate nature of her thoughts on love, lust, longing and despair, her writing can be intriguingly complex, elusive and challenging – disturbed and yet relaxed in demeanour. And yet, although each individual song carries its own heady, melancholy perfume and makes a strong impact during the time it occupies the airwaves, it can be hard to recall the delicate melodies therein.
And there’s something slippery about songs like I Remember You that resists not only generic categorisation but also a permanent assessment of its lyric content. But each album certainly contains plenty of standout material: Hammer And Nails highlights are the chamber-backporch banjo-and-cello plod of Wide Awake, the strange grinding rock gestures of See, How You’ve Mastered Me and the sinister, cryptic economy of Rolling Tide. DryLand’s highpoints are equally individual in character: the purposeful opening title track creatively offsets a rollicking uptempo country shuffle with a yearning cello line, while Lovesick Boy is intoned to an eerie knocking percussion, squeezebox drone and spectral clucking banjo. A brooding, bluesy cello and bass pervades Man Of Gentle Birth and an even more stealthy tread informs To The Ground, whereas The Shabby Bride resonates ominously with echoes of traditional folk balladry, Machine Gun Fire ricochets its muted banjo sparks to a jew’s harp rhythm, and Mirrors, Spoons And Bottles is a deliciously homespun banjo-ridden come-on. The disc closes with the pained emotional kernel of Into The Killerstorm. After only two or three plays, both albums were fast revealing their true stature, and DryLand in particular has become a front-runner in my affections. - www.folkandroots.co.uk

Sophisticated music, exceptionally straight, more than beautiful, full of detail.
'DryLand' impresses with a multitude of melodies, is enormously multi-faceted, it's a profound experience, emotional, movingly intimate, full of real, disturbing sorrow, terrifying and touching - simply a great album.
With 'DryLand' K.C. McKanzie proves her unique intuition for truly affective music with a lot of depth. Harmonically she knows how to balance grief and light-heartedness.
- www.alternativmusik.de

Rough and fragile, typical are the inventive riffs as is her intense voice – 'DryLand' is K.C. McKanzie's most rocking piece of work whilst retaining a tender and dark mood: a really great album. - Folker 9/2009

On 'DryLand' K.C. McKanzie moves off the beaten tracks of rootsmusic and blesses the scene with simple poignant songs that won't fit into any genre.
She has a very unique songwriting style…many highlights…notedly big musical variety with much love for the details…timeless and beautiful…great voice…gives you goosebumps …without any reservation another excellent gift from this artist…can't hold back my exhaltation…great joy…awesome songs…ingenius partner Budi.
An album of heartfelt emotions with an impressive simplicitiy.
- www.rocktimes.de

On her 4th album K.C. McKanzie writes mostly sombre Folk tunes with a closeness reminiscent of archaic America. With her forthright and pure voice this ambassadress of alternative Country music creates on 'DryLand' an absorbing tension. - rolling stone