Katie Malco - Live at The Moroccan Lounge (February 2023)

Katie Malcomson (Katie Malco) at The Moroccan Lounge (Los Angeles, CA) - February 19, 2023

Katie Malcomson, singer-songwriter hailing from the Midlands of the UK, graciously ended her month-long and first US tour in the dark and intimate Moroccan Lounge of Downtown Los Angeles. Settling in quite nicely and naturally to the Angeleno stage, Malco told countless stories and through songs and interludes to a quiet and focused crowd.

Malco played quite a few tracks from her full-length ‘Failures’ (2020) (regarded for its “soul-baring songwriting and gut-punch guitars” and “vulnerable melancholy”), immediately reminding the crowd of the record’s unique ability to evoke the pain, heartache, and longing of the life changes (deaths, relationships, identity) of your twenties.    

Completely capturing everyone’s attention with a guitar in tow, Katie beckoned the crowd to feel her pain through her lyrical mastery and command of the telecaster. Kicking off the show with eyes-closed, Malco called out,

“We are chasing laughter, paced in all of the fractures, 

And I know I can't match up to her

So, I'll be this for you

If you want me to

And I'll love you endlessly

If you can pretend to love me.” 

A sucker-punch to the gut, Malco tells her story of strife and brokenness sharply and eloquently. She follows Fractures with tales of ordinary, yet shockingly profound loneliness, croaking she’s “surrounded by good people but always alone”; in a following song, embracing a connected, but distinct sense of isolation steeped in heartbreak she states “I forgot how you sound when you’re sleeping”. 

Katie Malco’s stunning, poignant lyrics, vocals, and instrumentation distinguish her as an incredibly exciting artist to follow for years to come. Upon closing the set, I couldn’t help but think of  Malco’s presence, sound, and performance as akin to a British beach; her lyrics and instrumentation like cold sand, meticulously gritty and yet impossibly soft after the violent, chilling crash of ocean waves.

Standout Tracks: September (2020), Let’s Go To War (2020), Peckham (2020)

Sedona - Live at Zebulon (January 2023)

Sedona at Zebulon (Los Angeles, CA) - January 19, 2023

Commanding the Zebulon stage with confidence and mystique, Sedona effectively captured an Angeleno crowd while narrating the ups and downs of heartache and heartbreak.

January 19, 2023 was an exciting day for Sedona at their release show for new, gut-wrenching single Quicksand.

“Haunting, decisive, gorgeous… feels like an escape” (Slumber Magazine, February 2021) - an apt description for Sedona and their entire discography. While Sedona’s music feels like an escape, front-woman and songwriter Sedona Stewart grounds the band’s dreamy instrumentation with crushing lyrics and desperate vocals that detail the push and pull of relationships, and moreover the stomach-dropping moments surrounding the ripping of an emotional tether.

Stewart feels like an iteration of Stevie Nicks with her stage presence, fringed hair, and understated and powerful crooning. Her lyrics, throughout her work, are underscored with “self-loathing and loving” (Line of Best Fit, March 2020) and “prodding romanticism” (Flood Magazine, April 2021) as she often explores the poignancy of crumbling partnerships.

Specifically in new track Quicksand, Sedona and Dominic Florio lyrically break down the shame we harbor trying to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, while simultaneously communicating the deep love we feel despite their unavailability. Over warm synths and percussion, Stewart’s voice cries out the chilling truth “you know where I stand, even when the floor is quicksand”. Heartbreaking and romantic, the track is relatable and evocative, especially when understood as a continuation of Rearview Angel (2020).

Standout Tracks: Quicksand (2023), Sharkbite (2021), Paper Moon (2020)