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[ELECTRO-SOUL] On her last album, Natasha Kmeto made it clear she was going through some shit. She called it Crisis, and while the music's electronic pulse suggested hookups by dance-floor strobe light, her voice ached with unfulfilled desire. Coming two years later, Inevitable is still fraught with longing, but the context has changed. Kmeto has not been coy about presenting the record as her sexual coming-out—the press release describes it as "the self-actualization of her own queer identity"—and even the desperate moments exude bold confidence.
"Impatience always has the best of me," she sings on "Come and Say," a song about those early stages of a relationship when everything seems to hinge on a single word. She pleads for her lover's allegiance, her insistence growing with each stride of the towering chorus, and there's little doubt she's going to get the response she wants. For the album's first half, Kmeto's preferred pronoun is an ambiguous "babe," but that shifts with "I Thought You Had a Boyfriend," its rising and falling waves of synth buzz evoking the euphoric seasickness of newfound romantic possibility—a feeling that's more intense when the attraction is closeted. Three songs later, "she" has her completely "On a String," and in her submission Kmeto achieves the blissful satisfaction that once seemed out of reach. As a singer and producer, Kmeto has always been sure of herself, commanding attention with just a laptop and a microphone. But with her personal life now drawing even with her art, one of Portland's most promising performers has taken a significant step forward.
SEE IT: Natasha Kmeto plays Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., with Sara Jackson-Holman and Swahili, on Thursday, Sept. 17. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Willamette Week