Katie Stelmanis

The drama of Kate Bush and Toyah Wilcox mixed with the sturm and drang of Diamanda Galas and the pop bubbles of Lena Lovich or Ann Steel shouldn’t make any sense whatsoever but in the world of 23-year-old Torontonian Katie Stelmanis it comes together.

Possessed of a classically trained voice that stuns at 10 paces, Stelmanis’ arsenal is simple—piano and midi noise percolations shape simple songs that subtly grow into powerful, cathartic moments. A song like You’ll Fall (first featured on the Friends In Bellwoods comp CD alongside ohbijou, Sebastian Grainger et al) is balladry with an anodized heart and no easy emotions. Yet for all her compositional savvy, Stelmanis’ manner is unpretentious and rooted in her experience as a member of the Electralane-like outfit Galaxy and the stoned-on-Alan-Lomax collective, Bruce Peninsula.

Join Us may be an assured, loud and primal debut but Stelmanis winks with a closing cover of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Without any irony, she strips the chestnut down to frame and gears and explosively, profoundly makes it her own.

Tour Dates

July 26th - Montreal - Casa del Popolo
August 1-3 - Sappy Fest
August 5 - Halifax