Natalie Grace Alford

So I saw Ms Natalie Grace this Monday 16 August at Reggies. She has a thing for wigs and so I go to see which one she wears, and she busts out a full band, and the new wig. And all these songs that are grand as they are, were given complexity that was suggested in the subtext of it's minimalism. I got her demo of some of her songs and they have her mostly with the keyboard. Now live and with the full band she is free to flap her arms and really drive her songs with her performance. My first time seeing her, it was just her taking on the tasks of many band members. Ms Natalie was not waiting for anyone to join. There are few performers I can think of that sound great with other musicians and as solo artists. Like Katie Jane Garside/Queen Adreena/Ruby Throat. And Katie Jane is a good loose comparison to Natalie Grace. Katie Jane can command your attention with just her voice and acoustic guitar. There is something very compelling about her. It's the same with Ms Nat. Careless and effortless is her stage presence. She can and has gone it alone and held attention that way. When you see her with a band, her songs finally can fully express their interior. Each instrument, each musician, removes a task that she would have to do, almost. With the band she is unchained. Free to pour it out. I can just tell how each performance will differ from the next. The songs talk back to her and then she talks back to you. Her voice is deep and womanly. You got to see how she bosses her band around. They play this messy kind of jazz that fit her songs nicely. The drummer plays a beat and she instructs him to play it faster. She clearly runs the band. Here and there she has to dig in the spurs to make the horse trot a little more elegantly. You got to send the message that you run the show even in mid performance. I can see her shows being real different every time. Ms Natalie is one to observe closely. Ms Nat is a bold performer. Her music has more to reveal, more breaths to take. If we as local Chicago natives are privileged enough to have this artist here, observe we should because it is a mirror to us. It's really fun to observe the different lives her songs have with each new performance. Everyone should absolutely stop observing Amy Winewhoo, I mean look at who we got here damn it!