REVIEW: Katrina Weissman Stuns on Debut EP ‘Phantom Thumb’
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY LENA FINE ☆
WITH A VOICE LIKE A CANDLE FLAME — Katrina Weissman has delivered an EP to hold and shield with your hands – precious, powerful, and poignant. The LA-based singer-songwriter has emerged from her trail of singles with her debut EP Phantom Thumb: a five-track exploration of the self as it bends to the wills and whims of lust (and sometimes love). Offering a perfect blend of easy listening and emotional catharsis, Weissman is officially cementing herself as one to watch. Walking confidently along the tightrope of honesty and mystique, Phantom Thumb paints portraits of nights left unsatisfied and conversations left unopened.
Phantom Thumb opens with “Pet Slug,” an instant score of sunshine hiding a brewing storm. With Weissman’s enchanting vocals highlighted by ethereal strings, the song drives forward with a monologue of those all too familiar questions, “What are we?” and “Why can’t you read my mind?” The song erupts by the final chorus into a heart-aching release, tension spilling out over a summery and satisfying refrain.
In “Phantom Thumb,” the title track and second single, an addicting guitar lick opens the curtains for the stage Weissman sets, on which she indulges in an East Coast summer and the ways it can remind us of the things we’re missing. Weissman contemplates sacrifice to get back what was let go for a reason – “I don’t mind being a sidecar / can we paint flames down the side? / you remind me of a time when I was more alive.”
On “Different Night,” Weissman creates an easy swell of a song driven by the feeling of limbo. She builds the sensation of twirling and falling through an evening, wanting badly for something just out of reach. There are notes of distortion cutting a complimentary edge to Weissman’s honey-rich voice and emphasizing the emotional agony of wanting the impossible: something from someone who doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to give it.
“Let You Go” offers an upbeat respite of indulging in the ways we can be wicked in the pursuit of an unshakeable curiosity. Weissman unleashes her frustration with a satisfying vocal performance, echoing over the refrain of “Why can’t I just let you go?” The song tells the story of a match not quite made in heaven, and all of the feelings that come with wanting to see where it goes despite its doomed fate. Rounded out by what comes after – the intoxicating obsession of trying to make sense of it all – “Let You Go” is real and raw.
“Big Time” draws Phantom Thumb to a close, combining all the sonic elements of the previous songs with a slightly more polished, more liberated soundscape. It’s hopeful and tender, asking how two people can meet each other in the middle – in the sweet spot. Weissman embraces the chase and the search, articulating moments we find ourselves needing to be brave and see where something goes despite its potential pain. Weissman plays us out in spatial distortion and pleading vocals, leaving us with much to think about and perhaps more to act on.
Phantom Thumb is a masterful example of Weissman’s ability to tell a story and make it easy on the ears; to bring her heart to the surface and let it dazzle on her sleeve. The songs are classic and reminiscent of earlier Alvvays and Angel Olsen’s sweeping ballads. Weissman has delivered the perfect soundtrack for a spring and summer of feeling the big things and doing something about it.
