Katie Gavin: 2025

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The last time I saw Katie Gavin, she was performing to an adoring and attentive crowd at Forest Hills Stadium in 2022 with MUNA, the trio she shares with bandmates Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson, supporting Phoebe Bridgers. MUNA then went on tour with one of the world's biggest pop stars, Taylor Swift, as part of the 2023 leg of "The Eras Tour."

Needless to say, Gavin is not new to the spotlight. However, she says that she was kind of nervous about the release of her solo album, What a Relief, which came out last fall on Bridgers' label, Saddest Factory Records.

Like most debut albums, the songs on it were stored up over a lifetime. There are tracks on here that are different from MUNA's style of pop; rather, Gavin often leans more to singer-songwriter territory, folksy — or as she puts it, "Lilith Fair-core."

Since Gavin's introspective and vulnerable songs didn't quite fit with the MUNA narrative, she sought the advice of friend and fellow musician Bridgers about putting out a solo record. Bridgers encouraged her to do it, and gave her a home on Saddest Factory. "I've wondered for a couple of years if I was going to have the chutzpah to take this venture out on my own," she told me.

In our conversation, Gavin said while her MUNA bandmates were very supportive, they were a little covetous of one "banger" track in particular, "Aftertaste," which Katie kept for herself rather than handing to the band.

Gavin was joined in Studio A by Dutch musician Nana Adjoa on bass, electric guitar and backing vocals (she also plays bass on What a Relief and opened for Gavin on tour). The pair played a set of three songs: that so-called banger, "Aftertaste," along with "Casual Drug Use" and "Inconsolable."

[Recorded: 12/10/24; Engineered by Jim O'Hara with Erin Merriman and Zack Tomassi; produced by Meghan Suma; Videographers: Lyla Toomey, Louisa Schramm, Olivia Iannaccone and Anna Fahy.]