With eager praise surrounding debut EP Inside Out, British melodic rockers Finding Kate are now pushing for wider recognition with their first album and fair to say that If I Fall is twelve tracks of melancholy soaked and emotionally powerful rock which just demands attention.
The brainchild and creative outlet of alt-rock vocalist/lyricist Kate Pavli, her London hailing project has earned a potent reputation for its live presence to match that earned by that first EP. Linking up with pianist Chris Charalambides who wrote all the music for the album and a host of additional contributors to If I Fall, Kate is ready to tap into bigger spotlights with a release which ripples with skilful songwriting and strongly enterprising sounds.
Influences listed include Deftones, Flyleaf, Avril Lavigne, Karnivool, The Pretty Reckless, and Evanescence and there is no escaping a comparison to certainly the latter for the Finding Kate sound though you can add Forever Still like essences also helping shape the band’s potent first full-length. If I Fall opens up with the swiftly impressive Drowning, a track soon luring ears and appetite into its imaginative landscape. Little time is needed either to embrace the emotional fuelled voice of Kate, her presence and qualities catching eager attention within seconds of her opening melodic cries. As often common to the album’s character, the song is a fiery simmering of intensity, an emotional cauldron which ignites from time to time but seduces rather than blazes within ears as guitars and keys especially echo the drama of Kate’s vocals.
White Lies follows the strong start, opening up with a rhythmically feistier coaxing which shapes its subsequent infectious character and energy. As with the first, there is something familiar about the song drawing those comparisons earlier mentioned yet both tracks develop a personality of sound and invention built on the potential of uniqueness.
New single, Forever is next, its sombre breath and emotional intimacy bred from the alluring voice of Kate and the plaintively shadowed melodies of Chris’ piano alone; their potency backed by the expansive suggestiveness of guitars and strings as rhythms court a darker climate. It is equally a template behind the emotive theatre of next up Don’t Let Go which is taken to even more intimate depths as Kate’s voice flames across another enticing tapestry of flavours and textures. As strong as its predecessor was, the track easily eclipses it.
Both Get Over You and Inside Out leave ears richly satisfied, the first creating another fiery landscape of sound and heart felt declaration matched by the second in its imagination seducing web of sounds and invention. Strings again add a sublime texture and presence to both songs, especially the former while its successor enthrals through that unpredictable and mouth-watering array of invention. It makes a great claim for best song honours within the album though quickly rivalled by Did It Again with its cinematic stringed beauty and the melancholic union of keys and voice.
Through the album’s dynamic yet tender title track and the magnetically sorrowful yet hope lit I’ll Save You, band and release only cement their hold on attention while Semper Fi explores arguably the album’s most adventurous creative scenery in its impassioned roar. It is fair to say there is a bit of a surface similarity which wraps many of the songs within If I Fall, though digging deeper frequently reveals a kaleidoscope of real individual imagination, but this track is an openly unique proposal to stir ears and enjoyment.
The dark vocal/piano romance building It’s Over captivates from its first breath and note straight after; a beguiling ballad hard to be anything but taken with before Gone brings the album to a fine and memorable close with its emotion soaked roar which pleasures with ease.
If I Fall shows that Finding Kate may have yet to find a truly distinct voice in their sound but the potential is a loud promise within their first album and its enjoyment rather easy to find.
If You Fall is released November 18th with pre-orders now taken @ https://findingkate.bandcamp.com/releases
http://www.findingkatemusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/FindingKate https://twitter.com/FindingKate_
Pete RingMaster 16/11/2016
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