It's taken nearly three years, but Katie Von Schleicher has finally followed up Shitty Hits with another record. Called Consummation, the album dropped last Friday on Ba Da Bing and it reveals an expansion of what was on that first impressive release.
While some of this is sufficiently mellow, mellow enough to get Von Schleicher lumped in with any number of contemporary singer-songwriters, the more propulsive pieces here are what set this far apart. "Caged Sleep" is elegant in design, a peppy sheen keeping this on track under Katie's assured vocals, while "Can You Help?" is even better. This one is rough around the edges, and a listener might think back to stuff like early Liz Phair for a point of comparison for this selection, and perhaps a few others here.
The genius of Consummation is how it builds over the course of its running time. While a few of the early songs are relatively straightforward and simple, the numbers near the end of the record serve up complex arrangements and emotional peaks and valleys a plenty. "Power" is sublime, a really smart bit of musical business, while "Hammer" purrs and whines like some odd mix of Devo and Jane Siberry. "Nothing Lasts", the closer here, is deceptively simple. It opens directly and gradually winds and twists into a kind of mini-catharsis. Sounding as much like (oddly) Nilsson as Fiona Apple, this track really seems a big step forward from the already excellent numbers on the first Katie Von Schleicher record.
Consummation is out now via Ba Da Bing Records.
More details on Katie Von Schleicher via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Annie Del Hierro]