Nashville’s most transcendent players have never been the type to care about the status quo. From Hank Williams to Garth Brooks and beyond, there aren’t many singers, songwriters, or country producers who haven’t been best described as rebels in their own time, and to some extent, the same goes for young Kaitlyn Kohler, whose latest single “Everywhere I Go” is making the rounds in the indie press and on streaming sites around the globe this June. Driven by an arrangement that goes against the foundations of a trending minimalist sound, “Everywhere I Go” disses the industry standard with a uniquely melodic moxie I haven’t heard out of the mainstream in far too long.
URL: https://kaitlynkohler.com/
Lyrically speaking, this track is a lot more vulnerable than I was anticipating it would be, even with “Missing You Like This” and “Break Another Heart” feeling very personal from top to bottom. There isn’t any reticence in any of her verses; contrarily, it constantly feels as though she’s trying to get something off of her chest with as few metaphorical poeticisms as possible. She doesn’t have time for innuendo; she wants us to feel the real thing, which alone sets her far apart from her rivals.
Previous studio cuts from Kohler have lacked the instrumental punch this latest release has, and in my book, this makes it all the easier for audiences to appreciate her skillful command of the lyrics in a fashion we wouldn’t have been afforded otherwise. She’s cutting loose behind the mic without any fear of drowning out the backdrop, and through the gust of a groove we’re met with in the chorus, she’s given another opportunity to transmit catharsis not only through her words but via her very presence in the master mix. That’s impressive stuff, no matter what the level of talent an artist is working with.
The heavy guitar element in “Everywhere I Go” works well considering the stylization of the percussion and, later on in the song, the hookier parts, but I don’t think it’s something we’re going to hear a lot of in Kohler’s future recordings. She’s got such a brilliantly light and feathery lead vocal that it’s difficult to imagine her needing to employ a gargantuan tonality to illustrate a connective passion, even in a track with similar aesthetical cornerstones. The first few big singles any songwriter records are building blocks, and in this sense, a bloated guitar part is something I would half expect to encounter.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/everywhere-i-go/1685070753?i=1685070754
You don’t have to be a big country fan to like what Kaitlyn Kohler is doing for us in “Everywhere I Go,” but for those who are, it’s arriving at the start of a summer that already looks mostly devoid of any genuine musical excitement. “Everywhere I Go” isn’t rewriting the book on country music as we know it, and yet there’s nothing specifically retro about its epic twists and turns. Kohler sets a new standard for herself and the scene in this track, and for that, I believe she deserves a lot of praise.
Cleopatra Patel