So late so soon, Katvanger’s first album, has been a labor of love. Recorded on a vintage harddisk recorder in a tiny private studio in The Hague, mixed on a pc in a living room and mastered more or less by trial and error, it is as bare-bones in its essence as it was in its production - 15 self-penned tracks with nothing more than a bass, two electric guitars, a bit of blues harp, and three voices. Much of it was recorded live in the studio in one or two takes. 

 

In this mix of blues, roots, rock and roll, and here and there, a hint of jazz, Katvanger deals with some serious stuff, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. With whimsy, irony, and tongue often firmly in cheek, Katvanger takes on traditional themes like infidelity and abandonment, and less common themes like colonialism, debt, impulse control, and the inevitability that by the end of the day — or your life — you won’t have accomplished nearly as much as you wanted to.

 

While it is not an overtly political album, the underlying themes of So late so soon reflect a moment in time when much of what we thought we knew about the world seems to have been turned on its head. Love and death in the age of Trump — the title of one of the tunes – is strange, scary, and uncertain. Truth is variable, you may be better off with a healthy dose of skepticism than blind faith in your lover, your guru, or your leader, and the reality you are stuck with is almost certainly not the reality you ordered.