Cassandra Kubinski – Saratoga Sessions EP
Written by Staff on September 24, 2023
Billboard-charting, locally-based singer songwriter Cassandra Kubinski to perform at Caffe Lena Wed 9/27 for THE SARATOGA SESSIONS EP Release Concert + Celebration
September 18, 2023 : Saratoga Springs, NY – Billboard charting singer-songwriter Cassandra Kubinski released her new EP, The Saratoga Sessions on Friday, September 8, 2023, and will perform the release concert at Caffe Lena on Wednesday, September 27 at 7 pm. Tickets are on sale for IN PERSON and ONLINE options:
The show was selected by Caffe Lena, America’s longest continuously operating folk music venue as their Must See Show of September.
25% of show proceeds will benefit the Caffe Lena School of Music.
The release concert features Kubinski performing with a full band including EP Producer James Mastrianni, local musicians Michael Cassels and Todd Hanhurst, and special guest Victoria Paterson, who heads the Mostly Modern Festival. The first half of the show features the entire Saratoga Sessions EP in concert, plus other songs Cassandra has written or performed in collaboration with local organizations like Wildwood School and Saratoga Bridges. The second half of the show highlights Kubinski’s songwriting range, including a song currently appearing in an NYC reading of new musical Runaway Home.
ABOUT THE SARATOGA SESSIONS
Produced by Eddies award winner James Mastrianni (Carolyn Shapiro, Angelina Valente, Warden & Co., Turn Over Mule), The Saratoga Sessions was created with a team entirely based in the NY capital region. Sonically, it is anchored in Kubinski’s signature piano-driven pop sound, with live band instrumentation. Thematically, the four songs explore transformation in various forms; learning from tragedy on “Hindsight is 20/20”, busting out of playing small on the funkified “Fierce”, accepting your mission to move the world on “The Sound”, rising from the ashes of pain on “The Phoenix”.
Local listeners can already hear The Saratoga Sessions on WEXT, including an interview with Kubinski, and live performances of 3 songs.
Kubinski moved her home base from NYC to Saratoga Springs in 2020, after living part time in Saratoga since 2017. This is her first recording project featuring only upstate collaborators, from musicians to graphic, video, and makeup artists. “I wanted to showcase the incredible talent in the area, and invest more in the creative community here,” says Kubinski.
Kubinski is no stranger to the capital region scene; she first performed at the Caffè Lena open mic in 2014. Since then, she’s performed multiple times at Caffe Lena, Congress Park, local house concerts; has had significant airplay and local media coverage.
Nationally, Kubinski has opened for or shared stages with the likes of the Goo Goo Dolls, 10,000 Maniacs, Anna Nalick, Dickie Betts, Lizzie Grant (who became Lana Del Rey), Matt Cusson, Charu Suri, Olivia K, John Noble Barrack and many more.
She’s received airplay on various Sirius XM channels including The Pulse, and fans may know her songs from Lifetime TV’s Dance Moms, which used 13 of her songs.
A champion for women and indie artists in the music industry, Cassandra served 8 years on the Women in Music board, currently serves on the Caffè Lena board, and was the first female bandleader of Emmy-winning new media TV show The Never Settle Show.
Kubinski says of the new EP:
“The process was fascinating for a few reasons… one, I haven’t recorded with multiple musicians in the room at the same time, so that was fun and humbling and vulnerable and exciting. Two, this recording was such a true collab with Jim Mastrianni, who picked the songs from a list of 20+ songs I had un-recorded. The way he envisioned the songs was often different than I did (for instance, I saw The Sound as an EDM track, and we turned it into an atmospheric Coldplay-esque rock track). This EP has such a raw, organic feel to it, different from my recent studio releases. I loved allowing the process to unfold and just going where the music told us to.”
Says Jim Mastrianni :
“In this new era of AI it’s just refreshing to get a group of humans together in a room to play loud music on real instruments.”
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