Katie Belle Akin: Review of “You Are My Holiday”

 

Katie’s enthusiasm for music and singing has been consistent since an early age.  Following her dreams, working hard, and learning from her mistakes with an always upbeat attitude has helped her multi-task successfully as a musical entertainer and in fashion as a model.

Since her very first music release, and even since my last review of her music, she has come a long, long way, and like a fine wine, only improves with time.

She has that special “it” in all that she does that brings me to her Christmas song, which I pulled from her back catalog of other great songs.  

Blessed with natural vocal talent and an ear for a good melody, Katie brings home the Christmas cheer easily with her song “You Are My Holiday“. I dug this song up by accident and was surprised I didn’t find it before. It is from 2012 but sounds as fresh as yesterday!  It is pure goodness!

I can hear this song being covered by other artists in the future in a big way. And it is also a great candidate for a Christmas movie soundtrack.

The rich warm acoustic guitar played by song co-writer Kip Williams starts the song out accompanied by Katie’s naturally pure and very tuned vocals and with the snare brushes and brush hits that give it a light and smooth feel.

Katie’s vocal gives a rich, warm, and enchanting beginning to the song that when the chorus kicks in knocks you out with a fantastic hook that will be stuck in your head for life.

As the song progresses from the perfect opening sparse arrangement, more instrumentation comes in and the bass picks things up a notch and never lets it back down.

With dramatic vocal pauses before the chorus, the song is well arranged and puts the “Merry” into Merry Christmas.

The song will fill you with feelings of jubilee and bright cheerfulness washing away any kind of sadness that sometimes come to many this time of year. The song is like an escape into merriment and blissful joy.

Katie Belle’s Homepage:  http://www.katiebellega.com

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gvqd1IKorwI

 

 

New Album To Be Released Sept. 14, 2017

After releasing a litany of singles since the last album, a new album is ready to go. It will only be featuring 4 of the singles previously released and has 7 brand new songs and remixes of the singles.  The new Barley Station album is set to be released on Thursday, September 14, 2017

The title is “Back There Somewhere”.  Pre-release sales on iTunes and Amazon begin on August 10, also a Thursday.  The Instant gratification track will be the leading track, a song titled “Waiting”.

With 11 tracks on the album, each one has its own story, mood, and exemplifies how carefully selected and crafted each song was in the studio. No one song defines who Barley Station is so one won’t be picked for that purpose.

One of the more unusual songs though, is Double Star.  The song Double Star evokes imagery and terminology throughout that relates a relationship, or longing for that special someone, to the relationship between the stars and constellations and evokes astronomy terminology to explain it in a metaphorical way.

Have you heard of a wandering star? What is it? The retrograde motion of planets causing them to appear to be stars that move back and forth was the inspiration that caused the song to be written.  Like the skies at night, the relationship between people is not always what they seem.

Hear Double Star on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/embed?uri=spotify:album:2BHhGsESXYamZL6Phe0AOR

In its use of metaphors to describe this relationship one wonders if it is so far into space that they might think “is it a love out of reach or is it a possibility”?  The lines “When the sun is dark will you be my star and take me into orbit” paint a picture of the longing but in the song’s lyric “Did aurora’s laugh into your skies?” there arises the doubt – What does it mean? Can it be interpreted in several ways? Is it a joke? Is it a joy? Can you figure it out?  Listen to the lyrics and see if you can.

First released as a single in late 2015, a slightly different mix of Double Star will be appearing as track number 8 on our third full length studio album due out on September 14, 2017. True to Barley Station outlaw form, the album is a mix and blend of genres from rock to folk to country and beyond.