Katrīna Bindere, the always smiling and open to communication ventriloquist, seems to have been on the Latvian music scene for so long that the news of her debut mini-album released this week really surprised me – really, this is just her first masterpiece. in the studio ?! There are both.
Katrīna Bindere, the pupil of Lucija Boitmanes, who was only 18 at the time, was seen and heard by a wider audience in the national selection of the Eurovision Song Contest “Dziesma 2014”, where she participated with the song “Moment And Tomorrow “by Edgar Beļicks and Kārļis Auziņš. Even after, the girl was repeatedly visible in the Eurovision pavilions, asking the strongest question in “Supernova” of 2020, when with the joint work “I Will Break Your Heart” created by herself, Jānis Driksna and Niklāv Sekācs, has also been one of the main favorites in the fight for victory (Samantha Tina won). Over the years, Katrīna Binder became Katrīna Aneti Binder-Chodari and developed her vocal skills by singing in different choirs, as well as participating in musical masterclasses, while the “easy end” remained in her mind with her participation in the Concerti “Saldās sejas” by the Guntar Rača ensemble.
Katrina’s debut mini-album “I’m Holding My Breath” contains six songs, the lyrics and music of which were written by Katrina herself in collaboration with Kaspars Anson, who is also the studio producer of the album. “This is my debut album, so it’s very special to me. I started writing songs and turned to Kaspars to collaborate: he was a wonderful mentor in songwriting, I learned a lot from him, “praises the producer.” The songs on the album are about relationships involving romantic feelings: a song is about the beginning of a relationship, another about a breakup and another about eternal love “.
Katrina started thinking about recording her debut album a long time ago, but set it as a specific goal about two years ago, when her free time became much more in a rather sad way: it was caused by the disgusting covid. and its accompanying pandemic. At that time, Katrina, like many, was looking for answers to questions related to the future, and this time she allowed to reinforce the belief that the singer’s future will go hand in hand with the creation of her music. “Each song contains a part of me, a situation in my life or just thoughts that I put into words and music together with Kaspar,” said Katrina. From the songs included in the album, the song “Delit” (complete with a splendid video clip) had already been submitted for public evaluation in April, but now “Brīvības iela” has followed in his footsteps, for which a music video.
PAR. Katrina has a beautiful voice, there is no reason to doubt her vocal abilities. The material on the album is light, airy and enjoyable pop songs, which Anson has tailored accordingly: from this point of view, everything is in the best order. Positive emotions are assured, the album does not interfere, but the most recommended songs are the beautiful “Es lidošu”, the mature pop music “Grapefruit” and the similar “Moneta” (in the last two songs Katrína sounds a bit like Marta Grigale), still also “Delit”.
VERSUS. Kaspars Ansons is a good producer and also a strong personality, but unfortunately this also has its downsides: although the songs are a collaboration between the two, they are so much reminiscent of another Katō under Anson’s patronage (the most striking examples – ” Vīna glaše “, also” Delit “) that there is no doubt who was the main person in their creation. The songs aren’t bad at all, but I don’t want to listen to Katō-2. The message of the lyrics is sometimes rather suspicious: “The air cools and the machines scold / Their smoke blows like from a boiler” (from the song “Brivības iela”) – perhaps it is better not to try to delve into this curse process of the car …
