Pittsburgh’s Kallan Elizabeth (or just Kallan, for short) released The Impermanent Spectacle of Now, a poetic, assured folk album, in mid-August.
For someone with such a minimal catalogue (just this album, preceded by one single, is available on Bandcamp), Kallan brings a unique, fully-formed sound to the table. Searching lyrics, often containing nature imagery and/or a flair for the anachronistic (“Write if you need sage or spice,” from “Goodybe,” would sound at home in a Depression-era blues ballad) are delivered with a deep, aching trill and situated against a rustic backdrop of acoustic guitar. On “Honeybee,” Kallan’s flitting cadence mirrors the movements of the titular insect as she ponders animals, flowers, and trees, yearning to lose herself in the solace of the natural world, “curled up in numb delight/in a comfortable graciousness.”
Bored In Pittsburgh 