Vashtie '2004 by Paul Cupo

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Vashtie Kola’s wedding

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Business of HYPE: Vashtie Kola

Vanderpump rules season 47

Kim Gordon

Kenneth Petty

Vashtie Kola

Jungkook

Dixie Damelio

Sonya Morgan

V stiviano

Ella Emhoff

Carl Jung

Tinsley Mortimer, Allison Sarofim, Annelise Peterson, Zani Gugelmann, Genevieve Jones, Ali Wise, Lauren Santo Domingo, Lily Kwong, Barbara Bush, Maggie Betts, Rachel Chandler, Hope Atherton, Vanessa Traina, Lydia Hearst, Arden Wohl, Amanda Hearst, Shala Monroque, Leigh Lezark, Agyness Deyn, Chelsea Leyland, Cassie Coane, Harley Viera-Newton, Mei Kwok, Caitlin Moe, Mia Moretti, Hannah Bronfman, Sarah Lewitinn, Theodora Richards, Alexandra Richards, Vashtie Kola, Olympia Scarry, Cat Marnell, Eleonore Hendricks, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Kate Lanphear, Melissa Bent, Mirabelle Marden, Ashley Smith, Michelle Harper, Jeanette Hayes, Brandee Brown, Leandra Medine Cohen, Emily Weiss, Audrey Gelman, Tavi Gevinson, Petra Collins, Jemima Kirke, Barbie Ferreira, Sahara Lin, Alexandra Marzella, Cleo Wade, Hailey Gates, Karley Sciortino, Sandy Kim, Paloma Elsesser, Chloe Wise, Lexie Smith, Seashell Coker, Oyinda, Kyle Luu, Dese Escobar, Fiffany Luu, Jo Rosenthal, Lindsay Vrckovnik, Emily Ratajkowski, Kaitlin Phillips, Hari Nef, Dara Allen, Emilia Musacchia, Michelle Li, Miyako Bellizzi, Yohana Lebasi, Tommy Dorfman, Eileen Kelly, Laila Gohar, Ruby Redstone, Ivy Getty, Noor Eklhaldi, Savannah Hudson, Jazzelle Zanaughtti, Salem Mitchell, Anna Weyan, Imani Randolph, Bella Newman, Lumia Nocito, Caroline Calloway, Maria Al-Sadek, Pierrah Hilaire, Clara Perlmutter, Anaa Saber, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Devin Halbal, Dasha Nekrasova, Ella Emhoff, Richie Shazam, Julia Fox, Eve Jobs

Paz de la Huerta, Hannah Bronfman, Vashtie Kola, Cat Marnell, Jeanette Hayes, Tavi Gevinson, Petra Collins, Jemima Kirke, Barbie Ferreira, Paloma Elsesser, Seashell Coker, Kyle Luu, Dese Escobar, Fiffany Luu, Emily Ratajkowski, Hari Nef, Dara Allen, Tommy Dorfman, Jazzelle Zanaughtti, Salem Mitchell, Caroline Calloway, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Devin Halbal, Dasha Nekrasova, Ella Emhoff, Richie Shazam, Julia Fox

Vashtie '2004 by Paul Cupo

Evita Loca X Vashtie Kola

Durag Wedding veil by Evita Mensah

2020

Garment Design + construction

Product Available

Stella Kola — S-T (Fountain Flight)

Stella Kola by Stella Kola

“November” wheels out of the mesh with a brash assurance, swaggering with layered stringed parts, sashaying on twangy blues-folk licks and surging with a gorgeous, all-hands chorus. The most mobile and agitated of these cuts, it hugs the curves and fills the rafters. If it sounds a little P.G. Six-ish, that’s because Mr. Gubler is sitting in. And if it resembles an amalgam of Western Mass acid folk’s finest, well, it should. Beverly Ketch, who sings, hails from the twee folk Bunwinkies. Rob Thomas from Sunburned Hand of the Man plays one of several guitars, as does Jeremy Pisani (also Sunburned) and Willie Lane. Willie Lane’s sometime recording partner Wednesday Knudsen is on hand for flute and saxophone flourishes, while Jen Gelineau fills in the cracks with thick swathes of violin. Stella Kola is not a person, but rather an idea of a music that runs from Vashti Bunyan’s breathy purity to the Incredible String Band’s raucous multi-cultured reels.

These are fragile, delicate melodies, built out to density with luminous textures of sustained sound. Even bare, as in the opener, “Rosa,” the mix of Ketch’s charming, unfussy soprano and clear, resonant acoustic guitar, casts a hypnotic spell. When flute, synths and maybe strings swoon in midway, it doesn’t obscure the precision, merely buoys it up on a tidal swell of sensation. “Epiphany” slants blues-ward, its driving guitar melody recalling axe-men like Richard Farina or Richard Thompson, its skittering rhythm pushing things onward. And “Free Afternoon” with its blowsy sax and breezy air, hardly sounds folk at all; more like the Brit pop revivals of the Essex Green.

Ketch writes her lyrics in vivid, surrealist terms, flashing tarot card imagery of towers and ladies, queens and quests that are, somehow, not archaic at all, but fresh as flowers. There’s even a cut called “Tarot Song,” with clockwork picking and wavery organ drones, but it is full of light and breath and life. Folk music—and even folk revival—can be a musty genre, but Stella Kola blows a flower scented breeze through traditional forms. Whether you like the oldsters like Pentangle and Fairport, or the younger crew like Meg Baird and Red River Dialect, Stella Kola will fit the bill.

Jennifer Kelly