Kat Eaton is a harbinger of soul and RnB’s return to live music with her new album Talk to Me.
In Sheffield’s musical heritage site, Yellow Arch Studios, a smiling Kat can be seen mingling and chinking glasses with the crowd. The lights dim low and Kat Eaton and her merry men approach the stage. Standing before the stage’s twinkling lights, Eaton looks radiant in her camel checked jumpsuit and opens the set with her new hits ‘Checking In’ and ‘I Need a New Way to Say I Love You’. Eaton’s vocals are equivalent to KT Tunstall and Nora Jones: slick tones with a soulful kick.
Surrounding Eaton is an excellent rhythm section. Nick Atkinson’s guitar extended guitar solos will bring you back to Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’. Drummer Sebastien Hankins and bassist Jon Cox are paired perfectly to maintain the soulful rhythm. The highlighting member must be Joe Glossop on the keys and backing vocals; the Ray Charles-esque soul collaborated with Booker T blues and brought the whole show to life. The only thing missing from the set is a brass section to really hound home soulful tunes like ‘Barricade’.
Between tracks, Kat raises a glass of gin and tonic and recalls memories of finding her musical feet in Sheffield as a youngster. Attending gigs and getting to know local music heroes here would bring her to headline and sell out her own gigs in London and the Steel City. The warmth and friendliness of her Welsh/Northern roots are hybridized with a Southern extravagance. Eaton then goes on to tell us about her album and song dedicated to a friend and their battle with depression during lockdown, inspiring the song of support, ‘Talk To Me’.
I truly believe that there re big things out there for Eaton and her team of talented musicians. It was great to have you home, Kat and Co, and I look forward to seeing her name crop up in other UK cities soon!
