Album Review of
Nine Lives

Written by Joe Safari
August 26, 2016 - 12:00am EDT
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Her real name is Leen De Haes, but she goes by Katy Too, and this Belgian singer-songwriter has mastered a very finely tuned mix of American country-pop within a European art song sensibility. She sings with a clear but never over-bearing voice, and with a wry emotion meshing perfectly in these nine short, punchy tunes. In “I’m No Angel,” Too lets us know she’s “gonna’ go to Hell, gonna’ pay off all my sins,” but no one listening to these crisp, expertly arranged pop songs really believes she deserves such punishment.  “Whiner’s Blues” isn’t a blues at all, but a country rock track, and “Bricks and Sirens” visits the kind of alienated terrain inhabited by the spirit of Lucinda Williams on a down day. Too never dwells in her downer for too long, as “Darlin’ Tell Me Now,” an up-tempo rock song, brings things back to life. This Belgian with an occasional Southern drawl takes these nine short songs and makes every one of them bright and compelling.