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<\/p>\n Keaton Schiller<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Keaton Schiller can be a pretty vulnerable songwriter, penning lyrics that are candid and raw. But the New Orleans-based singer-songwriter<\/a> doesn\u2019t want that to be mistaken as her feeling too somber or down on herself, she says.<\/p>\n So Schiller leans into her electric guitar, plays loud and pairs those raw lyrics with resilient, energetic alternative rock. On her dynamic second EP<\/a>, \u201cThe House That I Built,\u201d released last month, the result plays like the feeling of shaking out the tension in the body and finally letting out the expletive you\u2019ve been holding all day.<\/p>\n \u201cI want that vulnerability in my songs to feel like strength and freedom and catharsis,\u201d she says. \u201cI think emotions, even the saddest ones, can feel like a point of power in pushing someone forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The musicians Schiller looks up to \u2014 alt-rock icons Liz Phair and Courtney Love and female-fronted bands like Mannequin Pussy and Wednesday \u2014 are able to capture that feeling, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is my goal when I\u2019m performing these songs, too. I want to channel a type of release that the rest of daily life can\u2019t give me,\u201d Schiller says.<\/p>\n Schiller, a Chicagoland native, released her first EP in 2024, a couple of years after moving to New Orleans. The project, \u201cSomebody\u2019s Ocean,\u201d<\/a> grappled with big questions of feeling loved and feeling wanted in her life and within herself, scored by propulsive indie rock with synths and dream pop influences.<\/p>\n
\n Provided photo by Sarah Gardner<\/span>
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