Var Gallery Presents: KELS with special guest Allison Mahal

Doors: 7:00pm Show: 8:00pm

Tickets on sale now! $12 online presale $15 at the door (plus service charge)

KELS  is the perfect mix of jazz, pop and soul. Her brash vocals and sultry  style reflect the old school sound of some of her biggest influences-  Ms. Lauryn Hill, Sarah Vaughan, Erykah Badu, Adele, and Amy Winehouse  with a profound lyricism to match. Born in Germany to military parents,  she moved often as a child. By age 5 she was living in Pittsburgh with  her mother and brother. KELS started writing songs at 13 years old.  Growing up she was heavily involved in choir, singing at church and in  jazz ensembles. Her debut EP, Slow Ryde, released in November 2021  displays her unique vocal style and versatile songwriting. KELS debuted  her original music at a series of music festivals in Pittsburgh during  the summer of 2021- headlining at The Three Rivers Arts Festival,  Millvale Music Festival, Picklesburgh and opened for Kat Wright on her  fall tour stop at Thunderbird Music Hall. In early 2022, KELS released a  series of live renditions of original music. Most notably, her  independent release of “Just Let Me Go (Live at Kingfly Spirits)” gained  over half a million views on TikTok and has been streamed over a  quarter of a million times across all listening platforms. KELS is  currently touring the United States independently.

Allison  Mahal is a Milwaukee folk-rock artist known for “powerful voice” and  “knack for heartbreaking lyrics” (NPR). Her debut album, Not Over This  Yet, is set to release this year on May 18 with Tone Tree Music and is a  roadmap to navigating early adulthood. Consequence of Sound featured  the first album single “Autopilot,” calling it “quietly devastating,”  while noting, “It’s a fantastic vocal performance form the rising  artist; by the time the crest of the wave is reached and she ushers us  back down again, it feels as though she’s stepped into some of her own  power.”