From The Light

Singer-songwriter Kate Targan is an American country music and jazz vocal artist. In a popular musical landscape that is too frequently safe and predictable, Kate Targan presents a bold and adventurous spirit that is unexpectedly natural. Honest. Healing. And strong. 'From the Light ' produced by Andy Zenczak at Gadgetbox Studios, is Kate Targan's debut album. Kate was a featured vocalist with Jody's Jukejoint, a blues band that has toured large festivals and small intimate venues throughout Spain. Depending on whether the beat is gypsy jazz, bossa nova or folk ballad, Kate's vocal artistry teases listeners with worldly sensuality. She exposes places in the heart that are wounded and vulnerable. She belts out pure emotion backed by lush orchestrations that are exquisitely and achingly raw. Running throughout Kate Targan's impressive collection of songs is a mysterious sense of spiritual wonder. Something Kate Targan, an energy healer, finds walking among the redwoods of her Northern California. An unexpected and soothing aura that embraces and guides you on an emotional journey. We're going deep. Now, let go. Through Kate Targan's music comes a feeling of wholeness and transcendence that carries you back to yourself, and the heart. 'Once or so a decade, an assured and original recording and performing artist-freely crossing country, folk, jazz and blues-enters the music world. One whose debut shows a stylistic reach, wondrous sense of intimacy and emotional intensity that somehow feels as unexpected and inevitable as the experience of falling in love. Singer-songwriter Kate Targan is such a music artist'. -Daniel Highet, Firesign Media STROLLING THROUGH THE SUNLIGHT, DANCING THROUGH THE SHADOW KATE TARGAN'S FROM THE LIGHT TAKES LISTENERS ON A DEEPLY SATISFYING JOURNEY By David Lessem, media writer Every song on Kate Targan's debut album, From the Light, is eminently listenable. Effortlessly striding across diverse styles and produced in a way that feels simultaneously meticulous and authentic, there isn't an awkward or unbalanced song here. Yet for all that, it challenges audiences in ways that most music this accessible won't. It is gentle enough to put on in the background, but it asks to be listened to. It's songs stand on their own, but they want to be heard as a whole album, a whole journey. The album starts with the track 'La Despedida', a wistful bluegrass departure reminiscent of Alison Krauss. With a voice combining a vulnerable airiness and fray with a studied jazz suppleness, Targan sings a goodbye to someone she still loves. Gentle guitar fingerpicking, sweet and simple piano lines and tasteful touches of steel guitar accompany the singer through a bittersweet parting. By the second track, however, she will be on the other side of the world, in the Spanish bossa nova number 'Almeria's Wind'. The thing holding the two tracks together is Targan's voice. Somehow, her style can find a home anywhere, whether in a country reverie like 'La Despedida' or a nocturnal, jazz romance like 'Almeria's Wind'. Otherwise, the tracks are different enough to sound like they could be from two different albums the first time you hear them. The steel guitar is traded for a horn, the rhythmic fingerpicking for expressive chords, and the night mystery, filled out with the subtle sizzle of cymbals and the moody echo of vibraphone. Even the perspective has shifted, with the singer now the one holding on to a lover who must part. The first switch between styles is a bit surprising on first listen, but becomes eminently gratifying as the logic of the album unfolds. Throughout From the Light, Targan switches back and forth between styles, traveling with the listener through the sunny days and luminous nights of a journey. Songs like 'Ns' and 'Bilbao' develop a moody jazz seduction, alternating with the warm, nostalgic sunlight of country tunes like 'La Despedida' and 'My Time'. The title track anchors the themes of the album. It begins with the words: Take a walk with me through the moss-grown trees, where the dew-kissed trees cover si