kathryn williams signs to one little indian

Unbelievably, 2009 marks a whole ten years since Newcastle-based singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams released her spare, moody debut Dog Leap Stairs on her own label, Caw Records. Since then she’s released six more albums, been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, signed to and departed a major label, become a doting mum and seemingly done no wrong, charming countless people in the process.

That endearing trajectory looks set to continue with the release of her latest solo album, the first since 2006′s Leave To Remain, on February 22, through a newly inked deal with One Little Indian Records. Recorded at the Bryn Derwen studio in rural North Wales, The Quickening finds the acoustic folkie opening up into more personal songwriting and introducing samples into her work. That’s not to suggest the album has been overly produced; as Kathryn explained to Mojo magazine earlier this year, the album was laid down “in four days, all live, three takes maximum” with co-producer David Wrench (Beth Orton, British Sea Power).

In addition to that album, One Little Indian will also release two of Kathryn’s side projects: a children’s album with songs about “robots in the rain, sweets on the floor and pirates taking over buses” and a collaboration with songwriter/poet Nev Clay with a typically lovable concept. Dubbing themselves The Ish Inventors (“as in it’s kettle-ish, or it’s bird-ish”), the duo have been working on the album on and off for the past 3–4 years. ”Our manifesto is about trying to patent our inventions through song,” Kathryn explains, “but we’ve recorded lots of songs about how difficult it is to invent something…”

All in all, 2010 looks to be a very busy year for Kathryn, especially as she’s got another baby on the way. As previously reported, fans can get a sneak preview of songs from The Quickening, plus a lot of older material, when Kathryn embarks on a short run of UK dates later this month.

Written by: Alan Pedder

Tags: kathryn williams, the quickening

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 12:17 pm and is filed under news, the inside leg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.