Originally Published on June 24th, 2025
About the Artist
Music is more than just pretty notes forming chords, words forming phrases, melodies and harmonies, and timbres and cadences. It is something we connect to. It’s a form of communication. It’s how we communicate how we are feeling. It’s how we articulate our appreciation of life, of love, and of our experiences. Our taste in music changes over time. As musicians, that might even carry through to our performances and our songwriting.
Such is the case with singer/songwriter Kat Ivy. This New Hampshire native is currently a roots and folk singer, but that wasn’t always the case. In starting out as a recording artist, she experimented with different sounds and different genres.
Ivy debuted in 2022 with the release of her single, Sick Cycle Carousel, a piano-driven pop R&B song. This ballad reflects an artist in search of the best way to articulate somebody who is trying to make sense of the world. Her analogy of the world being a sick cycle carousel is truly thought-provoking.
Along with Sick Cycle Carousel, she released the single, Circus Freak, a blend of 90’s grunge, 70’s punk, and a dirty blues rock that gives a glimpse of a young, aspiring Joan Jett. This sound feels much more fitting for Ivy’s performance of the two songs. She unapologetically lets her emotions rip through this performance. She has a tendency to hang on a note in a way that openly displays her personality, as if she were reading her diary aloud in front of the audience.
Kat Ivy released these two songs on September 30th of 2022, leaving her audience with two potential genres that she could potentially pursue. She wouldn’t release new music for nearly two years.
About the EP
Nostalgia is the debut EP of New Hampshire independent recording artist, Kat Ivy. This 6 song EP has a run time of twenty-eight minutes. It features singles Indiana Jones, Memory Lane, Autumn, and Wonder Woman (for Rachel Jean). It released on June 20th, 2025 through her independent label, Autumn Road Records.
About the Music
“Nostalgia is such a bittersweet feeling. There’s something so beautiful about things that take you back to the memories you cherish so fondly. There’s also something so tragic about not being able to physically go back.” (Kat Ivy, via her website)
In Nostalgia, Kat Ivy gives her listeners yet another glimpse of her capabilities as a recording artist, as she has turned back to a more organic, solemn space musically. With a voice reminiscent of the brilliance of peak Natalie Merchant, she compels her audience to decipher coded analogy within the lyrics of her songwriting.
The EP opens with Indiana Jones, a song that serves as a testament to her realization of how life moves in chapters. Focusing on the dusk of her past, she sounds hesitant to embrace the dawn of her future. Not because she is afraid of getting older, but a reluctance to leave behind key roles of her youth. This ballad is a choice opener for the album, as it equates to a moment where the listeners can feel comfortable taking a breath as it all begins. It sets the tone for what’s to come, which is deep, emotional, and layered music meant to reflect on heavy subject matter.
The next song, Memory Lane, is a song about reflection. It is highlighted by a solo guitar performance that trades off with the lead vocals throughout most of the song. As with Indiana Jones, this is a slow to moderate tempo. As Ivy revisits her past, she transitions from lyricist to illustrator as she begins painting an oceanside scenery with her words.
My favorite song on the project is Wonder Woman (for Rachel Jean). This song is more stripped down than the other songs on the album. It also does a great job of truly exposing the strengths in Ivy’s voice. Her voice seems to transform as she touches on the higher side of her range. I referenced Natalie Merchant a moment ago. I think this song is where I hear much of that similarity in the tone of her voice.
Final Thoughts
Kat Ivy is a living example that change can be good. I’m not knocking her previous releases. They’re both good songs. They both have standing power. With Nostalgia, though, Ivy has found her sound. Not only can I appreciate this change, I can relate to it as well. I used to produce different, louder, harder music. I will always be grateful for those days, but I’ve never felt as connected to music as I have these last couple of years. I can’t speak for Ivy, but she speaks for herself. In her writing. In her performance.
In Sick Cycle Carousel and Circus Freak, Ivy doesn’t sound as comfortable with the performance. Almost as if she was searching for a fit. I don’t get that impression at all with Nostalgia. I hear a musician who’s less concerned with fitting into the sound, style, and genre of music. Instead, she’s pouring out emotion, experience, reflection. She’s storytelling, and it’s a beautiful story. It makes the listener feel sad. It makes us feel humbled. It makes us feel grateful. It doesn’t matter if the endings were happy or sad. The moments were worthwhile.
It may have taken Ivy a couple of releases to find her sound, but not only has she found it, she’s locked in. Having locked in, it only makes sense that she’s going to expand from here. As exciting as that may feel, we shouldn’t be in a hurry to listen to Nostalgia and wait for what’s next. There’s time to take this in and, if you take the time, this album will hit you in all the right places.
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