Mikaela Davis Explores Folk-Pop Via Piano and Harp

The piano and the harp are actually pretty similar instruments. If you open the lid of a piano you’ll find all its hammers and strings and keys. And if you look at the inside of a piano sideways, it’s actually quite similar to the left side of a harp (although the harp has about half the number of strings you’ll find in a grand piano).

Mikaela Davis, a native New Yorker based in Rochester, plays both of these multi-stringed instruments on her debut full-length record. However, the tone throughout the 10-track Delivery seems to change drastically with songs written on piano versus songs written on harp.

On first listen, Delivery sounds more like a pop record with hints of funk, rock, and folk. Grammy award-winning John Congleton (best known for his work with indie rock and alternative artists like Future Islands, Alvvays, Angel Olsen, and St. Vincent) produced the record, which likely amped up the bold delivery of Davis’ already forward songwriting. Bass lines thump, sputter, and rumble (“Delivery,” the latter third of “A Letter That I’ll Never Send,” and “Little Bird”). Drums trounce any notion of subtlety. Additionally, Davis borrows from international influences, from the scraping guiro percussion of “Get Gone” to the sitar-esque lines of the closer, “Pure Divine Love.”

Above all these layers, Davis’ textured soprano rings clearly, expressing everything from coyness to hurt, frustration to defiance. Sometimes, she even enlists The Staves, the English trio of sisters, to add harmonies on “Emily” and “Pure Divine Love.” However, the best songs on Delivery shift the focus back to the harp and Davis’ classically trained mastery of it, like in “Little Bird” and the self-fulfilling prophecy of “In My Groove.” So few musicians can play the instrument to begin with, but even fewer can make it sound like it belongs alongside guitars, bass, synths, and drums.