Kate Van Dorn is a singer/songwriter who’s been recording and performing since 2013 with a voice that recalls the tonality of Stevie Nicks crossed with the grit of Patti Smith or Marianne Faithful. She fronts a band featuring guitar, bass and drums, and her recordings are highly produced, dramatic rock with her lead vocals deservedly commanding most of the attention.
Van Dorn’s newest single is called “Violent Birth.” It’s already receiving accolades, and has been described as “’90s grunge lyrics combined with the haunting instrumentals of Tori Amos.” Van Dorn herself says it was “recorded in multiple studios across multiple states, all patched together, my little Frankenstein. The result is close to my heart, pure and honest. It’s also a little messy, artsy and heavy like me. I wrote it at the dawn of COVID in my basement right after our tour had been canceled. I can’t lie, I miss those days (when) we were more focused on each other. Everything was quieter.”
Though I’m new to Van Dorn’s music, I can tell right away that this song is something of a departure. It starts with just piano and vocal and does indeed evoke Tori Amos. Based on her videos it’s possible that the piano parts were recorded with a small keyboard emulator, which is amazing as it sounds quite real! As the song moves forward it quickly takes on a classical feel, and based on her Instagram page, I believe it is Van Dorn herself playing several tracks of violin. Her voice is steady and powerful as the chords behind her alternate between beauty and dissonance.
After a minute the drums kick in, with overdubbed keyboards bathed in saturation. You can’t help but imagine the finale to an epic stage musical with Van Dorn bathed in red lights while the orchestra saws away behind her! As the song peaks, there’s something that sounds like an analogue synth or an electric lead guitar with a particularly cool outboard effect, which slowly mutates into a digital horn as the track settles to a close.
I’m glad I was able to check out a few of Van Dorn’s other songs and videos on her website (and you can too!) because I can see this track is something different for the artist, and a quite successful attempt at that! The loudest part is maybe a hair too loud (“Messy and heavy” like Van Dorn said), but that’s a minor complaint and probably noticeable only on headphones. Clearly Van Dorn is an artist to be watched, and most importantly to be listened to!
