| Five years after the release of Urge
Overkill's last album, founding member Nash Kato has emerged as a solo artist with Debutante
(Loosegroove/Will). The twelve original songs on this album are reportedly the cream of
the crop from demos Nash has recorded over the last two years and represent his new found
freedom of expression. Flawlessly recorded and produced by Eric Rosse, Debutante is
packed with great performances, strong songwriting and creative arrangements that will be
a Godsend to despondent UO fans, as well as anyone else that simply enjoys great rock.
The album explodes with the opening track "Zooey
Suicide", which features a strong up-tempo groove and great backing vocals supporting
Nash's expressive lead. This track has been made available, in advance, as an MP3 download
and appears to be the intended single. The R&B feel of the title track would be a
great follow-up single but a few well placed F**k's could hurt its chances for radio play.
The funkier "Cradle Robber", with its great lead and backing vocal interplay, is
the song that I've had on repeat for about a week now and the cover of Steely Dan's
"Dirty Work" is another strong track and potential single.
With Debutante, Nash Kato has created an album that
is rooted in his Urge Overkill past but definitely explores new territory.
"Blow" starts as a ballad and moves into a nice mid-tempo rocker with a few
subtle time changes. "Cradle Robber" introduces harmonica and keys into the
dominant guitar-bass-drums line up and the mesmerizing "Black Satin Jacket"
features a muted trumpet along with a reflective, pleading vocal performance by Kato. In
addition, strong female backing vocals almost dominate the album and are an excellent
enhancement to Nash's sometimes limiting baritone.
This album is a strong statement for Nash as a solo artist.
He's in great company at Loosegroove/Will and has some support from UO fan sites that
finally have something to talk about. It looks like good things to come for Nash Kato.
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