EP REVIEW: KATIE NICHOLAS - CHEMISTRY

The very first time #TEAMw21 became aware of Katie Nicholas was at C2C 2015, where her sheer enthusiasm as a saleswoman was enough to encourage us to purchase her debut album "Dizzy". It was an album full of many delights including the track "Chemistry. it is this track and others written around the same time or earlier that form her new EP "Chemistry",

For "Chemistry" itself, a quick revisit to the original reveals it to be beautifully realised with Katie's delicate picking and unique phrasing, only really being joined by some additional percussion. it was the simplicity of the recording and the inventiveness and originality of the lyrics and accompanying video ( with its pie / pi visual gag) that really attracted us to Katie. That originality has continued ever since, culminating in this new EP.

The new version of "Chemistry" starts with percussion and a banjo playing before Katie delivers the opening line

"We both love Big Bang Theory"

The intervening years have naturally added extra richness to Katie's timbre, while sound wise there is now also a noticeable pedal steel from CJ Hillman.

It is the chorus though, where a string section takes this new version to a lush new level, while still retaining the essential clarity of the original - there may be additional sounds but they have been added with care and in no way clutter proceedings. Katie's backing vocal also seem a little more pronounced. It all makes for a quite magical revisit.

The second track "In Your Shadow" is one of the two songs on the EP to have previously been aired as a single. With it's equally delightful string sound it is a seamless transition although lyrically we are in a totally different place, with Katie in a state of relationship confusion

 "I was told if it don’t make you happy

Then it can’t be worth it, right?

I was told that I made him feel good,

I felt exactly how I should, right."

The tone is almost conversational as if we were having a heart to heart debate, with Katie just lingering over certain words, elongating them in the most exquisite way

The state of relationship confusion is clearly played out over the next few lines,where Katie holding one view, has to come to grip with the feeling not being mutual,

" So I thought I’d found my heart of gold.

But my treasure left the map and he went cold."

The chorus still contains a level of confusion, although an underlying steeliness is starting to appear.

"In your shadow I will fall.

I’ll fall for the boy who doesn't even call.

‘Cause I'm not on his mind anymore.

So please don't call me yours

If you can't call me at all."

With a second verse that is almost heartbreaking to read as Katie eloquently expresses her feelings

" Is it cool to play hard to get?

‘Cause I think it’s cruel acting like we never met.

And it hurts after words you once said.

And what’s worse, is I can’t turn from where my heart was led."

The second single already released is "You Kill Me" for which Katie enlists the services of Robert Vincent, Some songs you know you are going to love before you have even heard them and the faces of Katie Nicholas and Robert Vincent looking out from the cover of "You Kill Me" is one of them .

"You Kill Me" opens in the most traditional Nashville of ways, with an acoustic and pedal steel guitar,

"I know I forge an act of treason

When my visiting reason

Is cause for concern

And as I grip the edge of your bed

I fear that something that I said

Will make your stomach churn"

Katie's vocals in the second verse are lightly tracked by Robert's additional vocals, in the most softest of ways.

"Well there's little more than I can say

You hurt me in the softest way"

This is very much a couple on the brink of break up, the later verses do nothing to dissuade that opinion.

"Now I'm not one to fall for conclusions

But I just love the illusion

That we are one and the same

And is there something that stops you from leaving

Or is it just heavy breathing that keeps you in the frame"

The sound has now been joined for a while by the most delightful fiddle sound that has makes this track even more traditional.

"It kills me when you call, cos it gets me every time

Well you told may that you can't commit

That love feels like a crime - and it kills me"

The bridge ends on one the most damning statements sung in the most sweetest of voices, Katie really upping the volume on that opening line.

So forgive my naivete and I'll forgive you for leading me

Down places where we shouldn't be and I curse the day we met"

The last chorus sees both Robert and Katie pull out the most beautiful of vocals that are diametrically opposed to the harsh realities that they are singing about.

The final song on the EP, was the first video of Katie's career, originally made for college course work - Super Katie fans might spot what looks like the doll's house that later appears in "Cabin Fever" making a fleeting cameo appearance! On the face of it a bittersweet story of a child and her experiences with a "Ladybird" but even at this early stage Katie had lots more in mind.

"Lucy-lou the ladybird,

The hardest lesson I have ever learnt.

I found you crawling on my shoe, and from the day that I met you,

My best friend was Lucy-lou.

I held you in my hands so tight,

Running fast through the golden light.

Lucy you're coming home with me"

But Lucy, you'll never be free. "

It's a metaphor for life, trying to hang on to things that are not really yours to possess, relationships, friendships, maybe even jobs until they end up falling apart or in the case of Lucy-lou - death!

But now I see where I went wrong,

I love you so but I held on too long.

Oh Lucy-lou I was just as scared as you,

Because I knew, you'd fly away.

You'd fly away from me."

The original for all of it's basic charm is surpassed by this new version, beautifully picked out guitar and sung by Katie, joined again by CJ Hillman's pedal steel which adds a a sombre presence and the lightest of brushes caressing the drums giving a gentle Americana feel to it. The strings on the chorus only elevate things further as Katie's vocals display an angelic quality that the original cannot match.

It's a an EP of sumptuous quality, not looking back simply nostalgically, but giving these tunes a totally new lease of life. The next step will be looking forward and we know of at least one tune #TEAMw21 heard at Buckle & Boots 2024 that we are yearning to hear in a recorded format.

The Chemistry EP is released on 11/07 with Pre Save Link https://ffm.to/chemistryep

Signed physical versions available at https://katienicholas.bandcamp.com/album/chemistry-ep

One final note - Will someone please offer this lady a gig in the South of England!!!

For comparison purposes only - these are the originals from ten or more years ago - revel in the wit and invention on display even then,