Redbud Archives - KUT & KUTX Studios

Over the past couple months, both on air and online, we here at KUTX have all been geeking out over this rising four-piece Redbud. I mean, they’re immaculate. Redbud’s misty indie-psych-pop swamp almost obscures how much each member dedicates to this project; on surface value they all kind of seem too cool for school (especially frontwoman Katie Claghorn), but when you listen to their recordings, you can instantly tell how disciplined and demiurgic this dual dyad is.

This year Redbud’s raring to release their debut EP, The Long Night. If you’re a crusty ex-Game of Thrones fan, don’t be discouraged by its title. Rather than a bungled, essentially-meaningless attempt that could never live up to its own hype, Redbud’s The Long Night is a concise, five-track masterpiece of unearthly arrangements, airtight structures, and a caliber of songwriting we rarely hear from relative newcomers.

The Long Night drops February 24th and Redbud plays 10:15PM tonight opening for The Stacks’ EP Release show at Hotel Vegas. So while you get ready to get rowdy on the east side, practice your howls at home with the sickly sweet “Sad On The North Side”. Expect plenty more mesmerizing percussion patterns, intriguing chord changes, and ghostly vocals to haunt your ear drums through the weekend.

If you’re an outdoorsy Austinite, “Redbud” ought to inspire idyllic images of the not-so-remote isle well within our city limits. But in fact there’s also a blossoming Austin quartet who goes by the name Redbud, helmed by the magnificently-melancholic singer-songwriter Katie Claghorn. Claghorn launched the project as means of self-expression in the early pandemic era, but the Unknown Mortal Orchestra-meets-Hiatus Kaiyote overtones were simply too tempting to keep cooped up to herself.

Redbud’s bloomed into an atmospheric four-piece, whose upcoming EP Long Night ensures a psychedelic and soulful panorama of meditative originals. You can catch Claghorn performing solo today at French House’s Fall Harvest Benefit before their full-band release party this Sunday at Hole in the Wall, with another one November 5th at the same spot (along with our September 2017 Artist of the Month Duncan Fellows). So what do you say? Want to get in good with the Redbud family? Well then fire up “Kin” in the player below and bless ’em with a follow on your preferred streaming platform.