On Friday, September 26th, KatzPascale reshaped Brooklyn’s SAA into a space that felt closer to ceremony than concert. The duo, Jenna Pascale on vocals and cello, and Sammi Katz on saxophone and guitar, are known for performances that blur the line between listening and immersion. Their latest show was a testament to that ethos, guiding the audience through blindfolds, near-darkness, and rawly beautiful soundscapes.
Beginning Without Sight
The night began in silence. Audience members were blindfolded, left in the dark for the opening minutes. Stripped of visuals, every detail sharpened: the shuffle of a foot, the sound of breathing, the anticipation of something about to arrive. When Pascale’s cello finally broke the quiet, the sound landed with startling weight.
When the blindfolds came off, the room glowed dimly in red light, the shadows elongating across the space. Pascale’s cello lines pressed deep without ever scratching, filling the room with resonance. Katz’s saxophone wrapped around them, sometimes sharp, sometimes softened, a counterpoint that pushed the music into tension. The effect was enveloping…the kind of sound you don’t just hear, but feel in your ribs.
A highlight of the set was when the duo played an unreleased song, “Mother.” The piece opened softly, KatzPascale layering cello and sax phrases against themselves with a loop pedal until they sounded like separate voices in dialogue. A dragging synth undercurrent gave the track gravity, stretching the silences between phrases.
The interplay felt conversational—lines asking and answering, teaching and learning. When Pascale’s vocals entered, they reverberated against the concrete walls, low and resonant, as if the space itself had joined in. Katz’s sax lifted the track higher, winding through the cello’s structure with tones that alternated between mournful and inquisitive. The whole piece played less like a song and more like a living exchange, equal parts delicate and unyielding.
“Spill Your Time” in a New Light
Later, KatzPascale performed their latest single, “Spill Your Time.” On record, it’s already a gut punch, but live it carried an even heavier ache. Pascale’s voice broke open the track, each lyric landing raw and immediate. Katz’s sax added a jagged edge, pressing into the vulnerability instead of softening it.
The audience leaned forward in unison, pulled by the intensity. What’s striking about KatzPascale is how they treat their live performances not as recreations of recorded songs, but as evolutions of them. “Spill Your Time” became something new in that room. Sharper, more demanding, impossible to look away from.
Closing With Buckley
For their finale, the duo turned to Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.” It’s a song steeped in longing, and KatzPascale reimagined it with restraint rather than grandiosity. Pascale sang it not as a showpiece, but as a quiet plea, each phrase aching without excess. Katz set the sax aside for guitar, creating a gentler frame around Pascale’s delivery.
After a brief bow and a flash of coy smiles, the two exited quickly. No encore, no lingering. The abruptness only intensified the feeling that the performance was something ephemeral, a moment you couldn’t hold onto no matter how much you wanted to.
The World That KatzPascale Builds
KatzPascale defy easy categorization. Their sound threads together elements of chamber music, experimental jazz, folk, and ambient, but never quite settles in any one place. Instead, the core is the partnership itself: Pascale’s cello and voice anchoring the songs in earthbound resonance, Katz’s sax and (sometimes) guitar bending them upward toward air and light.
What sets them apart is their commitment to immersion. A KatzPascale performance is never just a setlist; it’s an environment. Blindfolds, silence, shadows, and carefully considered lighting aren’t gimmicks, they’re part of the language. The duo want their audience to listen with more than their ears, to step inside the music and let it shift how time and space feel for an hour or two.
What’s Next For The Duo?
With “Spill Your Time” marking a new chapter and “Mother” hinting at future releases, KatzPascale are staking their claim as one of New York’s most compelling experimental acts. Friday’s performance wasn’t a casual night out, it was a demonstration of what music can do when it refuses to play by familiar rules.
KatzPascale don’t just perform songs. They build rituals and cast spells, balancing fragility with force, intimacy with vastness. And on a late September night in Brooklyn, they left SAA transformed, their audience hushed, shaken, and already waiting for the next time.
