PERFORMER MAGAZINE
“Let me tell you a stupid story about a stupid girl.” So begins the brief walk through the dark tunnel of longing and deceit Katie Davis moans and groans about on her new EP Terrible, Terrible. To be honest with you, it’s not really all that terrible. A better title would have been Hopefully, It’ll Be Better Soon. Davis isn’t your typical strumming sad-song-singing chanteuse, though. Her chord progressions are a little too deep and thick to get her lumped in with all the other sad, warbling chick singers.
Her voice harkens back to early Natalie Merchant or Aimee Mann circa 1984. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what she’s wallowing about in the verses, but by the time you get to the chorus, it doesn’t matter. All you really need to know is that she’s sad, she’s hurt and she hates love songs.
There’s something both endearing and doomed about how Katie Davis sings her sad songs. At times it seems like her guitar is trying to be optimistic, but her voice refuses to budge from its somber somnambulant unhappiness. This is the type of CD you listen to when you’re drunk and alone, contemplating calling your exes to ask them why they stopped loving you.
My first impression was that I wanted the CD to have more songs on it. Then it occurred to me that it’s probably better it ends where it does; I don’t think I could take any more. It’s so full of disappointment that you almost feel 15 again. But then she’ll come out with a line like, “I know what you’re taking when you leave me in the morning,” and you remember that love really is hard sometimes.
Maybe I’m just a little too happy to listen to Katie Davis. But I’ll keep the CD for the next time I have a sad, lonely day.
