Singles are now the coin of the musical realm, and many acts, young and old, are finding it preferable to release one song at a time. Sensing a trend, we'll occasionally highlight one, two or even three singles in a batch, tipping you to new sounds around (and in today's case, about) Utah. Send links to music@cityweekly.net.
Katt Padden, "Love in Utah"
Here's an interesting one. Katt Padden's a Music Industry Studies Major (Bachelor of Arts) at California State University Northridge in LA. Though not a resident of Salt Lake, she's got evident emotional ties to the place, and Salt Lake and its namesake body of water have a prominent place in the lyrics of "Love in Utah."
"I fell in love with a guy who had moved to Utah in 2020," Padden says. "Between August and October of that year, I spent a lot of time in Salt Lake City with him, and it was the deepest and most profound feeling of love that I have ever felt in my entire life. Together, we had spent a good amount of time at the Great Salt Lake, and it was a very special and spiritual experience. The water was so calm that it was completely flat, and it mirrored the sky above it. The water was warm and the salt kept me afloat. It was amazing to be immersed in the water, in this incredibly beautiful bright place, with the person I loved, and I could not imagine anything better in that moment."
This piece of highly-polished, hummable pop is solely the work of the Bay Area native, as the "lyrics, vocals, melodies, instrumentation, and sound fusion (were) all created by me in my home studio. I bought an electric guitar and have enjoyed creating melodies and then using my Ableton software. The software enables me to add drums and piano and build layers in my songs."
Padden suggests that she's open to residing here someday, and in the meantime, "I have been reaching out to various music venues and festivals in both Los Angeles and Utah in the hopes that I can have an opportunity to perform."
Various Padden-related links are found via: linktr.ee/kattpadden.
The Yesternights, "Guardrail"
The Yesternights are Matt Enright on bass, Mike Anderson on guitar and vocals, and Steve Beck on drums. Veterans of various bands, the trio are releasing their debut single in this lineup, recorded and produced by Stetson Whitworth.
The rock track's based in a classic real life story, as "the core of the song was written around 15 years ago when we crashed while on tour and, according to the police, hit the only guardrail for hundreds of miles," Anderson says of a prior version of their group. "I approach every song lyrically a bit like found-object sculpture, so there are many ideas and themes are combined and inform each line, and becomes something that has a specific meaning to me but, hopefully, also means something unique to any listener. So in my mind, this song is about loss, relationships, memory, belief, existentialism, death, grief, hope, and similar emotions. But I also hope it means something special to someone who happens to hear it."
Anderson says that he "love(s) albums, and hopes The Yesternights will get there someday. But as much as I love albums, the industry has moved away from them to some extent, which has had a silver lining of freeing us up to record and release individual songs as we go."
To that end, another cut's already recorded by the trio, and will be released shortly. This self-described "Rock and/or Roll" band's info can be found at linktr.ee/theyesternights.
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