Following the warm welcome she received for her indie pop/rock debut, 2019's
Trophy
, onetime jazz prodigy
Kate Davis
played shows alongside the likes of
Jackson Browne
,
Shawn Colvin
, and
Margaret Glaspy
and followed up with a
Daniel Johnston
tribute album. On her third album and
Anti-
label debut,
Fish Bowl
Davis
both grapples with and embraces change -- at least thematically. Musically, fans of her debut will be greeted with more of her effortless hooks, bittersweet melodies that favor the sweet, quirky detailing, and subtle stylistic adventurism that results in unpredictable yet reliably catchy songs.
opens with a head-bobbing indie rocker, "Monster Mash," that begins the proceedings with the revelation "I wanted more than being left for dead." That song leads straight into "Call Home," which
has referred to as her "big pandemic feelings song." It introduces characters including alter ego "FiBo" as part of a concept album of sorts inspired by experiences including completely changing the course of her music career in the mid- to late 2010s. While that weight and tension can be heard and felt throughout
, it's not necessary to know in order to enjoy or relate to songs about finding your people in the grind (the driving, psychedelia-tinged "People Are Doing"), struggles with mental health (the drugged-out "Fructify"), and "Consequences," a melancholy keyboard-rock bop partly about the relentlessness of the everyday. That song manages to pull off a catchy chorus consisting of the line "It's scary to realize the reasons why you want to die" ("And that you would spare them of the consequences"). While continuing to work through the puzzle that is the pursuit of happiness,
ventures into dark synth pop stylings on "Long Long Long," adopts a midtempo meeting of dream pop and grunge pop on the tuneful "Saw You Staring," and delivers a title track that may recall moments of
Peter Schilling
's '80s concept song "Major Tom (Coming Home)." When she then arrives at chamber operatic final track "Reckoning," she's learned a few things about herself ("I've been kidding rather than coping") on the way to a cliffhanger ending. ~ Marcy Donelson