Show Reviews

 

APRIL KRY

w/ Bri Fletcher

Krysalis Album Release Party

Wednesday September 28, 2022

@ The Electric Jane in Nashville, TN

Nashville’s a vast melting pot of music styles, but when an artist can bring several of them together into one cohesive sonic blend that they can uniquely call their own, they instantly elevate amongst the crowded pack to stand out and catch attention in big ways!

That’s exactly what April Kry has been doing for the past decade as she’s forged her path on the back of a mix of soulful country, blues, jazz, and pop to earn several accolades as her more recent singles – ‘Fireflies,” “I Feel at Home,” “Perfectly Imperfect,” Etc. – have all made tremendous impact at radio while resonating with the hearts of listeners.

It makes sense then that her long-awaited, full-length sophomore album Krysalis is being met with high anticipation that culminated inside Nashville’s The Electric Jane, where Kry gifted a room full of industry, friends, family, and fans the chance to hear the album played front to back in its entirety a few days before its official release.

Amongst plush velvet couches, martini glasses being toasted, and black table clothed, fine dining tables, Bri Fletcher opened the night’s festivities with her brand of spacey pop infused country playing several of the songs that have shaped her career including her first to reach a million streams “Everything I’m Not,” the highly reviewed single “Love Me Back,” and the nostalgic dripping “Astronaut,” which she told was written after experiencing the happy sad emotions you get after watching old home movies. 

But as any great support act should do on a night like this, Fletcher kept her set quick and to the point, while praising April Kry several times throughout her performance, gratefully thanking her early on for allowing her to be a part of her album release show, and then again when she told the audience that she feels that April “has one of the best voices in the world.”

As the drums began to pound into the darkness that filled the venue, vibrating the floor as the bass thumped and the lights flashed on bringing April Kry to the stage as the guitar subtly strummed through the verses of “Take The Edge Off,” the punch of the chorus instantly allowed April to show off her vocal chops as she drove her voice into a territory that swirled a mix of jazz, blues, and country as she bounced around the front of the stage in time with the groove, only pausing her movements to dig deep down and strike the power notes.

“Thank you so much for being here tonight and supporting this album,” began April gratefully addressing the audience. “It has truly been a labor of love. I started recording it during the pandemic and then I got pregnant with my first baby,” she said with a smile to a massive round of applause before further explaining about the album, “this collection of songs is about growth and growing through everything we go through,” she finished as the stage transformed it’s lighting into a mood setting blue tint as the opening notes of “Bullets in the Dark” began to play.

The slow blues tilted feel that’s embedded into the song’s instrumentation quickly pulled the audience in, but very skillfully never allowed it to overpower Kry and her incredible voice as she commanded the stage with her vocals and allowed her big personality to really begin shining through.

“When we finished writing this next song, I knew I wanted to release it,” she confessed, “But I don’t know how to really describe it…it’s just a vibe,” she mused as the bounce of “Scratch the Surface” had her slow stepping across the stage in rhythm with the guitar licks that filled the spaces between her hitting big notes and captivating the crowd to a silence, yet again, with the power of her vocals.

Pulling back from the groove heavy material as she slid into the middle part of her set, Kry allowed her voice to stride into an almost New York Broadway style on the very vulnerable “Solid Ground,” before continuing with a similar pacing on “B-Side,” a song containing a pop leaning jazzy feel that pulled straight from her heart as she shared her own love story of her and her husband (high school sweethearts) and just how much they know one another after being together for so long.

“I’ve been in town for 11 years now and I’ve heard a lot of no’s and had doors shut on me,” began April as she shared a piece of her music path with the crowd. “A lot of people really didn’t know where to put me and tried to change my style to fit me in somewhere, and the idea for this next song came from that,” she finished as she played “Maybe It’s You.”

The simple slow groove of “Watered Down,” a song that April said to be about feeling bogged down and wanting to just sort of break free after her 4-year label deal had ended, allowed her to place her outstanding lyrics in the spotlight as she transparently explored the mirror and her own missteps while showcasing her growth period to hit on the redemption factor of the here and now.

After delivering “Crowd Pleaser,” Kry then took us to “funk town” with “The Upside to Down” as she leaned straight into a toe tapping groove as the keys plucked and bass thumped out an irresistible rhythm that kept everyone’s hips shaking.

Much like the Beatles did on their famed White Album with their song “Good Night,” Kry ended the show (and subsequently her new album) with the softer, nearly lullaby kiss of “Seven or Seventeen,” a heartfelt declaration that she wrote for her new baby boy that earned her a standing ovation as she exited the stage to close the night.

There was a very noticeable confidence that April Kry exuded the moment that she walked onto the stage that immediately let the audience know - without any shadow of a doubt – that she knows exactly who she is as she brought us through an incredible album that played out more like her own diary as she sang through life’s inevitable ups and downs and trials and errors, but ultimately, how you come out the other side of them stronger and better off because of them. 

FULL SET LIST

1) Take The Edge Off

2) Bullets in the Dark

3) Scratch the Surface

4) Solid Ground

5) B-Side

6) Maybe It’s You

7) Watered Down

8) Crowd Pleaser

9) The Upside to Down

10) Seven or Seventeen

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