Give Way, a six-track album, marks the debut collaboration between New Orleans musicians Kate Campbell Strauss and Emily Mikesell. Simple, sweet motifs and unexpected twists make the album sound like a fairytale, resplendent with new discoveries, moments of peril, and, above all else, an abiding tenderness. With each track, Campbell Strauss’s choir of saxophones and Mikesell’s layered trumpets cultivate a rich soundscape that both use as a canvas for musical exploration. Narrative cinematic tones reminiscent of Davis’s Sketches of Spain collide with the contemplative inflections of Philip Glass, as the restrained styles of Mikesell and Campbell Strauss leave ample space for the listener to join in on their sonic journeys.
The album, which originated as a grad school project during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a stunning tribute to the power of organic spontaneity in art – stitched into the album’s tapestry is the blossoming of the friendship between the two musicians. Drawn to one another’s musical versatility, and their affinity for subtlety over displays of technical mastery in their own art, the two quickly recognized a creative compatibility. Perhaps most remarkably, their first meaningful encounter beyond class discussions and a local jam is captured in the album’s first track, “Cloud Castles.” And while each of the six songs is its own self-contained vignette, the sequencing of the songs tells a larger story, of two unfamiliar but kindred musical voices coalescing into a symbiotic whole.
From the collaboration’s outset, the two used an original compositional process that prioritized affirmation over criticism. Quarantined to their respective homes during the height of the pandemic, Mikesell or Campbell Strauss would start by selecting an abstract written prompt from which a new musical idea – a simple melody, a catchy hook, a wandering introduction – would germinate. This initial sketch would then give way to a complete song over time, as the two sent new drafts back and forth, building on each previous version by either adding a new part or extending the track. As the recording was continuously passed along, the song would grow in depth and length, revealing a composition that could only have come from these two voices during this unprecedented moment.
