The River Kittens’ sound is rooted, indubitably, in the vocal talents of its three frontwomen: Martha Mehring, Mattie Schell, and Allie Vogler. The trio’s been augmented by the rhythm section of bassist Nate Gilberg and drummer Wallace Mccanless. It was this lineup that recently headed into the studio and, with the assistance of producer and recording engineer Tim Gebauer, recorded a self-titled six-song, 20-minute EP that’s excited a lot of folks—including Pokey LaFarge, who asked the band to open his gonzo New Year’s Eve show at The Pageant.
Just as their voices work in uncanny lockstep, the three women operate in a somewhat amoeba-like fashion off stage. Sentences are finished for one another, tangents are explored, and conversations (and whiskey) flow freely around a big old wooden table. The group gets together most Monday evenings at Gebauer’s Electropolis studio; it’s Gebauer who keeps things grounded and moving forward (the trio’s amusingly dubbed him “Taskmaster Tim”).
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Initially they planned to record a single. “Mainly, I didn’t want to commit to more than that,” Gebauer says. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. So we worked it like ‘Let’s try another, let’s try another,’ and it started going really good. And then we kept working on it.”
The work was done almost entirely at Electropolis, which is outfitted with every piece of musical gear a player could want. Adding Gebauer’s seasoned touch to their own deft songwriting and sharp harmonies, The River Kittens are content to keep making music at this special place. “He totally understands how we need to be recorded,” Vogler says. “He knows what we want to sound like. Over the past year, we’ve developed a real chemistry with him.”
“It’s a very professional space,” adds Mehring. “There’re always people stopping by that have a good opinion about things, which is great because it’s sometimes hard to be objective about your own music.”
The Kittens’ sound, including those spellbinding, harmonizing vocals, is based in classic American roots music. (For the disc, Gebauer also brought in a handful of trusted associates to add sonic color. See the sidebar for details.) It’s not a jump to understand why Schell wanted to add traditional songs to the folky originals; the group plans to work on that vigorously this year, with Gebauer again at the helm.
“They’re sweet. They’re a wreck. They’ve got something really cool, great energy, and the songs are so good,” he says. “They write clever and heartfelt songs. It’s my favorite stuff, the best I’ve heard in a long time.”
To keep tabs on The River Kittens’ gigs, as well as the progress on that new record, follow the band at facebook.com/riverkittens.
Pick Three
Producer Tim Gebauer’s talented team behind the River Kittens’ self-titled debut EP includes mixing engineer Brad Sarno and multi-instrumentalists John Horton and Gabe Doiron. We asked them what makes the band—Allie Vogler, Martha Mehring, and Mattie Schell, backed by drummer Wallace McCanless and bassist Nate Gilberg—noteworthy.
- Doiron: “The vocals and lyrics are so good that adding guitar was mostly about adding rhythm and groove to the overall picture.”
- Horton: “I’m always in awe of people who can make what they do sound so engaging, authoritative yet effortless.”
- Sarno: “[Vogler, Mehring, and Schell’s] very strong voices each have a uniquely different timbre and character that together blend and create a distinctive and recognizable voice that makes the River Kittens a real standout.”
