Asher Kai
Audio Feed
State House Square Food Court
Hartford
Sept. 11, 2024
The coolest thing about Asher Kai is her look.
When I went to see her perform at the State House Square Food Court as part of the Audio Feed series, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I could see the telltale signs of a metal head — tattoos, gnarly facial piercings and dressed in black from head to toe. But there, atop that head, was a cowboy hat.
Kai’s music is a similarly eclectic and exciting fusion of genres and influences. She takes inspiration from the lyricism of metal, the dynamic sound of the Beatles, and no small part of influence from her favorite band, Breaking Benjamin.
One of my favorite songs from her performance was “Trigger Finger,” an original piece where the soothing, almost angelic music belies the struggle in the lyrics. Kai’s ability to deliver dark meaning through a melodic format was a real challenge to how I conceptualized folk music as sing-songy happy times from the likes of John Denver.
Another great original from Kai was “Our Town.” The song is based on the play of the same name by Thornton Wilder. It too tells a tale of loss and regret that ripples out from Kai’s powerful yet controlled strokes on the guitar. I couldn’t help but wonder: How had such a young person found this style of music, especially in a modern era where folk is all but forgotten?
Kai, who lives in South Windsor and has been recording music since 2020, told me that she didn’t choose folk; folk chose them. She’s been playing music for as long as she can remember, and when she joined the local music scene in 2021, she tried to fit in with the dominant sounds of alternative and indie rock. But as she wrote music that expressed her feelings as a non-binary musician, the music always turned to folk.
“I was just playing with my guitar, and every time I recorded something that felt really raw and emotional and expressive of the way that I was feeling, it leaned toward folk so I just kind of leaned into it and got really into it. I started listening to folk and country and then it further influenced my music.”
I asked how she found such emotional depth for her music at such a young age. (She’s 20.) Her voice was tempered with a worldliness that outpaced her experience.
“I think for me it’s because I feel everything on a more extreme level. I have borderline personality disorder, so a lot of my emotions are really enveloping. The best way for me to express them is music because I can envelop someone else with the music and feel understood if they can hear the sound of what I was feeling.”
“The sound of what I was feeling” is a wonderful turn of phrase, and a wise way to convey that emotion cuts across senses and expression and hits us all on a level that we can relate to. I was unaware of the complexity of folk music, but I couldn’t have been introduced to it by a better person than the equally complex and fascinating Asher Kai.
NEXT
Asher Kai has a new album coming out this fall. Follow her on Instagram for updates.
Jamil is gonna take it easy for the rest of the week. See you next week!
