On Katie Gavin’s debut solo album, “What a Relief,” the Muna frontwoman breaks away from the band’s usual dance-forward pop to address love, family and self through folk and country tang.
Don’t worry. This is not the end of Muna. The trio of Gavin, Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin are still making and performing music together. Her bandmates also joined in, with Maskin performing seven of the twelve songs. However, Gavin’s solo project is a separate project, defined as the first of the three to leave the band since its formation in 2013. Written over a period of seven years, these songs are the band’s extroverted pop and introverted folk siblings.
Listen to “Sparrow,” a memorable song that begins with birdsong. Through the guitar melody, Gavin sings of his longing for the sound of a sparrow’s cry, a signal to his lover. “Winter come, winter come/I lost my lover.” She sings with a steady tone. “Like the birds/She rose and disappeared.”
While she waits, the diseased tree is treated with chemicals, inadvertently killing the birds that call it home. “The Earth was polluted, and I was still listening to the sparrows singing,” she explains.
If you listen more closely, you will realize that the chirping sound does not come from nature after all, but rather comes from electronic sources.
The combination of natural and synthetic forces, beauty and melancholy is at the core of “What a Relief”.
Another example: In “The Baton,” Gavin considers motherhood over lilting synths, supple violins, and drum beats. Like a tale shared across generations, it is a violin that amplifies the lyrics about generational trauma, healing, and learning. The swelling synths below are Gavin’s modern twist.
“I’ll pass the baton to her/I’d say you better run,” she sings about her fictional daughter. Be done.”
Gavin’s album reveals her specific inner life, examining relationships not often addressed in Muna’s work: those between mother and daughter, mother and dog, Mother Earth and her creatures.
But romantic relationships, while not neglected, become complicated. Indie rock singer-songwriter Mitski duets with Gavin on “As Good As It Gets,” a happy and sad ode to a partnership reaching a leveling off point. Perhaps it would be best, the couple admit, to let the magic of love blend into everyday life.
Gavin channels Alanis Morissette on the bridge of the catchy “Aftertaste,” the single that introduced her as a solo artist. She is haunted by her partner, who is gone but painfully still in her mind.
“And I’m living/in the aftertaste,” she sings in the chorus. “Don’t tell me it’s too late.”
Like the pain it describes, her words and optimistic delivery are enduring. It is reminiscent of Gavin’s best compositions and is deeply moving.
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