Review - Kaya Fraser at Yellow Door - 2/2/2008

Kaya Fraser has started to get quite a lovely buzz going this year about her album and live show, and I had the pleasure of squeezing in to Montreal’s famed cozy basement venue in the McGill ghetto this week to partake. When I arrived at 8:45 the room was packed, and I grabbed the last seat directly behind the dear sound engineer Steve, who always works and records the show. Holly, who curates and hosts, welcomed me amid general flutter about all the bodies and the show about to start. The opener was sweet enough for her own blog post, so I’ll leave it coming, but all praise and excitement was for Kaya.

Fraser’s live performance is subtle, sincere and gorgeous, especially for one whose only been gigging for about a year. Her presence is heart stroking and sorrow weighted during songs, even the one happy 1, and her mid-song chat is now comfortable, funny, totally unpretentious, self-aware and calmly loving what she’s up there to do. And really funny. Did I say funny? She’s kind quirky hilarious, actually. Not to be obvious, but it’s a Jan Arden vibe with the sharp silly jokes between depths and waves and tears of voice and strum. Anyway, it’s a good one, here’s a very tiny taste..