David M Rangel / October 14, 2025 / Review
This sultry-voiced chanteuse wastes no time creating a smoldering, trance-like feel and setting the tone for what’s to come with “Empress”, the opening track to the record of the same name. Her voice holds a cool, almost passive aggressive-like swagger that bleeds Amy Winehouse-style confidence in her own shortcomings. Lyrics like “can you see my weakness / I wear it like a crown / and I don’t need to impress /anyone around” are notable examples – all set to a slightly dark, atmospheric 60s-style slow burn of drum/bass hypnotism.
Being raised in New York, and currently living in Nashville, has clearly influenced Katie Schecter’s chameleonic musical palate. Her vocal tone, which lies somewhere between Gwen Stefani and Diana Ross, is as adept at urban soul as it is slithering, western desert sounds, and girl group-style pop. This is often set to the sounds of Jamaican-style reggae and dub beats, creating a sometimes sexually-charged, meditative sound.
“Kaleidoscope” exudes a far off quality that almost entices the listener to cross their own boundaries into something unknown and possibly forbidden. The laid-back Caribbean beats and reverb-soaked vocals, paint a picture of what a fever dream may have been like on a still day in the mid 70s.
The tempo is slightly picked up and the vibe slightly more hopeful within the nostalgic sound of “Hide My Weapons”. The lounge-ish but sophisticated simplicity of dreamy pop set to a club beat recalls the sounds of 90s English bands in that style such as Saint Etienne.
From the word go, Schecter displays a vocal and lyrical sense of feminine confidence that is usually found once in a generation, if you’re lucky. Billie Holiday had it. Amy Winehouse did too. It’s a certain “it” factor that’s hard to put a finger on, but you know it when you hear it. It’s a mixture of the mastery of emotional resonance combined with a relaxed, almost conversational vocal delivery that adds deep emotional weight when used with interesting vocal pauses and “breathy” characteristics to hammer the meaning home. As a relatively young artist, Schecter has time to hone her craft and possibly reach the status of those lauded female artists who came before her. And she is well on her way if Empress is any indication.
For all Schecter’s natural talent, and atypical ability to lock into her own emotions, Empress is also characterized in no small part by other musicians with whom Schecter has collaborated. Schecter’s husband (and Cage the Elephant guitarist) Nick Bockrath is the producer who sets the stage for this amalgamation of sounds. While the renowned rhythm section of Nick Movshon and Homer Steinweiss (noted for their work with Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse and many others) play a key role in establishing the specific feel of this record. Russ Pahl, Leon Michels and Matt Combs (on pedal steel guitar, piano and violin/viola, respectively) are equally responsible for creating this album with its vibes of yesterday, melding with a 2025 sensibility.
It’s understandable that the word “cinematic“ is often thrown around with regard to Schecter’s music. The clearly set atmospheres of each song not only bring to mind flashes of random motion picture aesthetics, but they also suggest specific movies in which they would not be out of place. “Shoulda Woulda Coulda” and “Melting Away” could be easily at home in dark comedy/dramas with a hip stance, including Drugstore Cowboy and Pulp Fiction. While songs like “Pay it No Mind” and “Gust of Wind” would be shoo ins for surreal, rural-set classics such as Wild at Heart and Natural Born Killers. Not since Lana Del Rey has a recording artist so easily brought to mind such sophisticated theatrical snapshots and Hollywood visuals with their music, as Schecter does.
Katie Schecter has been pushing boundaries and fusing musical genres since 2017. Upon listening to each subsequent recording, she establishes herself and solidifies her sound a bit more, with each output. Empress exemplifies that theory and seems to be a record that could possibly push her out to a much wider audience. The album is a fine example of an artist coming into her own and finding a firm stance within a unique musical world that she has created, on her own terms.
Listen to the album everywhere this Friday, October 17th. Until then, stream the most recent single here.
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