Once upon a time, Katie Herzig wore her heart on her sleeve and wielded an acoustic guitar, both apropos of being a singer/songwriter. These days, though, she keeps company with synthesizers and drum loops. Yeah, the heart is still right there on the sleeve, but now you can groove to its beat.
Herzig’s new collection, Walk Through Walls, is a song cycle that is as musically complex as it is emotionally complicated, and it was nearly two years in the making. There’s just a whole lot going on here, any which way you cut it, so listen very closely or you might well miss the point.
From the nonchalant opening stride of “Frequencies” to the unhurried closing meditation that is “Proud,” Herzig’s attention to detail is evident in every subtle phrase and every sweeping movement. Layer upon layer, she has constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed musical walls that reflect both sides of life — hope and fear, love and loss, light and darkness — because these pairs of opposites define and depend upon each other. You can’t know one without knowing the other, and Herzig understands that, intuitively and practically. These contrasting, conflicting elements embed WTW‘s message right in the core of the listener.
As a result, her heartfelt musical confessions ring true and clear. They are at once confusing and clarifying, dense and expansive. Take the whole 12-tune journey for your abreaction to be complete, for Walk Through Walls is intentionally confrontational and cleansing. And it is well worth the effort it demands.
Katie Herzig Tour Dates
