^{Cover Image: Katy Steele her newest album Undressed Vol. 1. Photography by Ashlee Tough}

Reinvention is par for the course for artists whose careers last more than a few years, but it’s a rare privilege for audiences to get to see parts of this process happening in real time.  

Katy Steele has fronted indie pop band Little Birdy and pursued a solo career in Australia and abroad. Both activities involved pretty big stages, audiences, tours, and production aesthetics. 

On her newest album Undressed Vol. 1, Steele is trying out a narrower focus: single-take recordings, solo and duo performances, and minimal instrumentation. The album includes four covers ranging from well-known classics to obscure pop releases, alongside stripped back versions of tracks from her band Little Birdy and from her own solo work. The final show of the tour supporting the album is a hometown gig at The Rosemount.  

Walyalup folk muso Anna Schneider opens the night with a cover of her own — an a cappella croon of Darrell Glenn’s Crying in the Chapel. It’s a conversation killer in the best possible way. Offering the now-silent room a collection of songs about different kinds of love, Schneider’s set runs the gamut from loving your share house, to life as the big spoon, to love for things that aren’t good for you. A Julia Jacklin/Laura Marling hybrid, Schneider’s flutter folk is soon to be released in album format, and I’ll look forward to hearing how these very personal stories translate to a band set-up. 

When Steele takes to the stage alongside Jesse James on keys, it’s a curious mash-up of her typical big-stage energy and a new, cosy-venue intimacy. Steele really knows how to use space on a stage; her presence is energetic without being frenetic, and big without being over the top. 

Performing solo on voice and keys, Steele tackles The Smiths’ There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. This track and others of similar acclaim — …Baby One More Time by Britney Spears and Because the Night by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen — are well received by the audience, but the only significant interpretative gestures Steele is making here are in the unique quality of her vocal tone. With songs that have been so widely covered, there is scope for Steele to be a little bolder in bringing more of her own musical and creative perspective. 

James returns to the stage for a fresh take on Ben, a slightly obscure 1972 Michael Jackson hit, which works well. The duo are on firm ground when they close the night with Little Birdy favourites Hairdo and Relapse. 

The showmanlike performances from the seasoned musicians exist in slightly uneasy balance with a sense of vulnerability Steele brings in her between-song banter. In the most casual way possible, she touches on deeply personal topics like hometown performance anxiety, long-term creative blocks, and sobriety. Artists have a right to privacy, and anything they choose to share with an audience is a privilege to learn — I loved hearing more about her process and her life — but I’m left wondering how this vulnerability might translate more explicitly into the musical performances in an Undressed Vol. II. 

Steele has the chops and the chutzpah to move in virtually any future direction, but I hope the forays she’s making into more unguarded modes of performance and recording are a taste of what’s next. 

https://www.katysteele.com