Katie Gavin, Laid Bare: A Night of Raw and Acoustic Intimacy

Katie Gavin, lead singer of MUNA, embarked on her first solo venture with a sold-out Wonder Ballroom show, trading the band’s polished club beats for an evening of raw, unfiltered acoustic intimacy. Words and photos by Bren Swogger.

The crowd cheers. The slow pulse of Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe” rings out through the room. Katie Gavin puts on a cowboy hat, waves admiringly at the audience, and exits stage left.

Katie Gavin is a star in her own right, whether strutting the stage as the lead singer of MUNA or standing alone for a wholly acoustic evening. She’s got the Portland crowd in the palm of her hand.

Embarking on her first solo venture, Gavin brought her debut album, What a Relief, to a sold-out Wonder Ballroom crowd. By the end of the evening, she had fully proven herself as a true music virtuoso. The songwriting on her debut cuts deep, cementing it solidly in my top five records of the year. But what impressed most during Gavin’s hour-long set was her multi-instrumental skill.

“The Baton,” a firm contender for my song of the year, saw Gavin showcasing her fiddle skills, delivering a gorgeous, Irish-inspired string interlude in her heartfelt ode to a mother-daughter relationship.

But Gavin didn’t stop there. On “Sweet Abby Girl,” she introduced the crowd to an instrument few had likely encountered before: an Indian shruti box. It begged the question—is there anything this woman can’t do?

The song itself, about her late dog Abby, had the audience in audible tears.

From fiddle to shruti box, to piano, and back again to fiddle—an instrument that earned raucous cheers and an enthusiastic “LET’S GO” the moment she broke it out on “Inconsolable”—Katie Gavin is a woman of so many talents it’s truly hard to comprehend. Particularly with the fiddle, her ability to sing flawlessly while playing intricate melodies is remarkable.

“Usually in MUNA I’m singing, strutting around,” Gavin joked. “Now I have to worry if instruments are in tune. It’s terrifying.”

Throughout the night, Gavin played nearly every track from What a Relief. Though the album has only been out for a few weeks, it’s already a strong contender for album of the year. Every track is simply immaculate, with Gavin’s pen sharper than ever. She trades MUNA’s thrumming club beats for an acoustic, swelling, and tender 90s-inspired singer-songwriter sound.

“It’s really funny that people are letting me write songs like this and then coming to my shows,” Gavin quipped. But with talent like hers, there’s no limit to what her fans would embrace.

On stage, Gavin was joined only by guitarist and opener Nana Adjoa. The evening was fully acoustic and intimate in every sense—from the stripped-down stage setup to the raw, deeply personal lyrics. Each song felt like a secret shared by a best friend.

“I feel naked when you look my way,” Gavin sang on “Aftertaste.”

Fitting, as her emotions and inner life were as naked to the crowd as ever. This was Katie Gavin of MUNA laid bare.

Though she traded the club vibes for acoustic arrangements on her album, she hasn’t entirely left the club behind. She walked on stage to Ciara’s “1, 2 Step,” setting the tone with a playful nod to her roots before immersing the crowd in a night of vulnerability and artistry.