Cassie Boettcher 'More Than That' (EP Review)
Oscar Rendon | St. Louis, MO | May 2nd, 2019
Cassie Boettcher is a Milwaukee born Americana singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. With her Kacey Musgraves meets Alison Krauss voice and unique lyrical phrasings, her music has been praised by industry professionals and fans across the world.
As a musician, Cassie's music took off after her song October Sky was placed in We Made This Movie, a feature film by the Late Show with David Letterman's Rob Burnett (The Fundamentals of Caring, NBC's Ed). This led to a write up in Billboard Magazine, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and more. Mr. Burnett says of Cassie, “I can't tell you how much I adore her song; it's one of my absolute favorites. She's huge talent with a big heart. It bursts right through her music.”
Cassie has opened for Natalie Hemby, Rosi Golan, Kate York at the Listening Room in Nashville and frequents venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, and her hometown of Milwaukee. In addition, she was a featured artist for Renaissance Hotels, Aloft Hotels, and Supercuts live musician campaigns. She is an alumni of the prestigious Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter's Project, led by master teachers Andrew Lippa, Craig Carnelia, and the late Lari White.
Her first EP led to placements in Katie Couric's Katie, Sprint, The Golf Channel, the hit video game Tom Clancy's The Division, and more. Her music is on rotation at Walgreens, Vons, and Safeway stores across the United States and has over 75,000 listens on SoundCloud.
She is currently working on a follow up record with some of the best writers and producers in Los Angeles. This includes Emmy award-winning songwriter Andrew Rollins (Carole King, Dan Wilson, ABC's Nashville), Wayne Miller (Christina Perri, Demi Lovato, Mike Posner), and Mark McKee (Rooney, Katelyn Tarver).
Review
“He Feels” opens the EP with a beautiful piano melody that whisks you up and into the lyrics and touching guitar strums. Cassie toes the line between folk and country but seemingly blends them well. The slow pace is perfect when it ramps up for the chorus and gives it that air to breathe. “Someone Else Was Here” is an interesting song, it feels more deep and hurt as Cassie’s voice breaks during the start of the chorus. The lyrics are masterfully written and the melody is upbeat and hopeful even though the lyrics and her tone seem sad and hurt. “Wasting Away” has a lower pitch in sound and slower pace that keep you hanging on every word she sings. Wasting Away has one of my favorite chorus’ from the EP that highlights Cassies control of her voice. This might be the song that stands out and for good reason. “Song for Lucas” has a cool talk and sing vibe. Almost effortlessly as she talks the lyrics it still sounds like she’s singing and when she does hit you with a few notes it’s that much more impactful. “…Baby One More Time” closes the EP and it feels like a closer and her execution on the vocals is pitch perfect. From verse to chorus you can’t help but to swoon over the angel like sound this song and instrumentation exudes.