According to today’s recalibrated expectations, Katie Herzig is a hit-maker, and radio has nothing to do with it. Over the past few months, snippets of her songs have popped up in films (
We Bought a Zoo), television dramas (
Grey’s Anatomy) and commercials (Dove Chocolate), which means she’s not only getting heard, but also getting paid. Making music malleable enough to fit each of those contexts is one kind of success, but Herzig’s also a singer and songwriter with no trouble holding an audience’s attention on her own. Last year’s album
The Waking Sleep has a mystique not entirely unlike that of Robyn’s triumph
Body Talk; the immediate pull of danceable beats, the surface-level prettiness of extremely well-made pop and undercurrents of disquieted introspection. Add to that the way Herzig keeps her fluttering, feathery singing close to her chest and surrounds herself with nimbly imaginative string players, and you’ve got layers upon layers that make a lasting impact.
— Jewly Hight