Dalima Kapten Channels Midwestern Roots at Drkmttr

“It’s always been a dream to play Drkmttr,” singer-songwriter Dalima Kapten said while making her Nashville debut at the all-ages venue on Sunday. “I’ve seen so many up-and-coming bands from Kansas City make their way through here.” 

Hailing from Kansas City herself, the upcoming singer fronts a jazz-infused rock outfit with dreamy textures and cabaret style. Grounded in her Midwestern roots, Kapten’s music weaves haunting poetry with hypnotic high notes, each song an opportunity for Kapten to radiate a stage presence that is impossible to ignore. Her Harvest Tour launched after a thrilling set at Kansas City’s KC Folk Fest in May.  

After an unexpected no-show from scheduled openers The Kitchen Counters, it took a moment for the show to get going. Lawrence, Kan., native Paul Jesse stepped up to the stage first to perform pieces from his soon-to-be-released sophomore album Cycles. Yearning vocals backed by moody synths set the tone for the evening as Jesse belted the lyrics to his Cycles single of the same name: “Cycling around / Lost but I’ll be found.” It was hard to deny his easygoing energy as he finished his set with “Your Sunshine,” a radiant song from his 2024 debut album Hello Paul Jesse — a song you can’t help but want to sing along to.  

Kapten opened her set with “Scrappy Rose,” offering a bluesy, folk-rock snippet from her 2024 EP Field Fire Burn, Burn — her first official release beyond the occasional single and YouTube soundbite. While she stepped on the stage with quiet grace, Kapten’s first song made clear her performance would be anything but subdued thanks to her captivating energy. She was accompanied by Jade Harvey on drums, Daul Lee on piano, Spencer Reeve on bass and Caden Smith on trumpet, with each player adding their own color to Kapten’s ethereal sound.  

“We usually do this one at our shows back home,” she said before leaning into a burning revision of “Home on the Range” with grit. Kapten’s voice continued to move from soft tones into mesmeric shouts as she sang a love-hate letter to her hometown. The band followed her shifts with precision, most memorably when Smith unleashed a trumpet solo that turned the room electric. Lee ended the performance by theatrically collapsing to the floor at Kapten’s finger gun. 

Kapten then slid onto the keys for a hushed rendition of “Feel the Beat, Bud” with quiet tenderness. She lifted the mood later with “Summer at Lonestar,” a bright, rolling ode to long days and slow heat. “Ravine” came next, with Kapten dancing as she repeatedly sang “If I loved you” with yearning. The set closed with “Low Flag,” a finale as heavy-hitting as Kapten’s vocal prowess, with dynamic range and fiery precision in every sustained note. Her performance was a pleasingly unique genre fusion with captivating theatrics that deserves to be heard more in Nashville. While her tour will keep moving down the road, I hope Kapten will bring a bit of Kansas back to us in the future. 

Closing out the evening was Candynavia, the brainchild of Sofie Pedersen. Though she’s usually accompanied by her band, Pedersen stepped out solo with a briskly made set list after agreeing to fill in for The Kitchen Counters. Kicking things off with “Perfect Wife,” the idiosyncratic singer played through pieces from her debut album LITTLE ROOM. Pedersen shared a charming anecdote about a song inspired by getting an iced latte and forgetting about it until it gets warm, confessing, “I’m not used to playing this one on bass,” before launching into “Coffee’s Getting Warm.” 

Beyond the music, Drkmttr lives and breathes through the people who gather there night after night. Unfortunately, this show didn’t pull much of a crowd — just a few stragglers toward the end of the night. The performers still carried on with the show, and the host venue plans to do the same.

Drkmttr recently kicked off their 10th birthday fundraiser to help sustain the space for the future, with plans already in motion for their annual Drkmttr Fest in October. Donations are being accepted now through Sept. 9 to make sure it remains accessible to the community.