In Conversation With.. Kate Kyle
Negative mood can act as a powerful driver of creativity. Currently, however, there isn’t much to do for the music industry at large, other than to wait for the flash of green light. So when enquiring about an artist’s wellbeing, one might expect an answer filled with frustration, emptiness and loss. Kate Kyle, however expresses the opposite – answering with positivity and hope.
Kate, who needs no introduction, for the last couple of years has become one of this region’s most promising singer-songwriters who embeds real soulful country music within her sound. Having just released her second EP ‘Without Warning’, you’d think this title would imply that this may be the very soundtrack to such unprecedented times. This brand new record has naturally taken some inspiration from these greatly incoherent times, but Kate claimed that when the lockdown drove her indoors, it allowed her to merely focus on what really mattered and to express herself in a way that allows her to create new meaning in her life.
Kate Kyle recording her EP at Circa 16 Sound Recording
Managing to use this opportune moment to further write something that maybe she has subconsciously been working towards, Kate believes that this is an approach to great art: “Although this EP was my ‘lockdown project’, it was music that was going to be written regardless. It was simply the extra time that allowed me to take it to the point of release”. Compared to Kate’s debut EP ‘Where I’m Going’, the lockdown allowed her to artistically express her personal experiences more in depth; she reflects: “I wanted to use the time wisely and reflect where I am and where I am going, musically”. Interestingly, it is only human nature to resonate with new interpretations of common reality, and that is what artists like Kate are really good at.
Kate makes it abundantly clear that song-writing is something she has always dedicated vast amounts of time to, and wasn’t in any need of an excuse like lockdown to get writing. Kate mentioned that “lockdown inspiration found me” and says “all I had to do was make sure I took my time, and allowed my messages to come across right.”
When asking about her plans on safely entering recording, Kate explained that alongside Liam Russell, strong demos for her EP were written during mid-summer, so the prospect of an ease in lockdown restrictions, she would make time for the recording studio to lay down the framework for her new record.
In late August last year, when restrictions were eased, Kate made the quick decision to book three consecutive days at Circa 16 Recording Studios to record what she had. With a recording date in the book, Kate now faced the challenges of bringing in a backing band into the small studio while complying with social distancing measures. Kate designed a plan alongside the owner of the recording studio, Dave Miller, to have Isla Gracie (strings), Stewart Paterson (drums and bass), and Liam Russell (electric guitar) on the record safely.
With all of the pre-production work that goes into a record before recording, Kate was able to conduct most, if not all of it, via Zoom, allowing her to walk straight into the studio, plug in and record. When asking Kate, how she felt about going back into the recording studio, under the ‘new norm’, not having been in for nearly six months, Kate expressed: “It was my only sense of hope. I sort of knew what to expect. It wasn’t going to be that extraordinary since it was just strict hygiene and cleaning procedures to abide by, and making sure everyone kept a safe two meter distance from each other”. Kate further added: “The recording studio environment was actually one of the safest places I could be - wearing masks, cleaning down equipment and taking individual turns in the live room, were all measures of control”.
Before the country was placed into the second lockdown, Kate managed to finish up and record her three-track EP, listing: ‘When the Devil Comes Close’, ‘Gone’ and ‘Confetti’. Hesitant to let these songs sit in the can, Kate pushed for an immediate start on mixing the record which couldn’t have been timed any better: “This time, lockdown was my motivation, to work harder and faster, it seemed like I was against the clock”.
Kate knew that with the prospect of live performance well and truly out of mind, she would be able to entirely focus on this record and to harden up her efforts at becoming an even better recording artist. Kate, however, was keen to note on her collaborative efforts with Liam Russell, who co-produced ‘When the Devil Comes Close’. Kate explained “Through the means of Zoom, I was able to continuously push the EP towards completion. It’s not something I have ever done before, but it sure was a revelation”.
For many artists who have pushed out a release over lockdown, Kate has not fallen in line with those who have taken a very D.I.Y. approach to the likes of recording, marketing and distribution of their release. She held together a strong creative team, through the means of technological advance, to work collaboratively towards an outcome. Kate also expressed: “When taking press shots for the cover art of the EP, I knew I wanted Ruari Barber-Fleming to take them, So we scrapped all ideas on indoor and intimate locations and instead walked through the countryside, two metres apart, and captured what became the cover art for the EP”.
The cover of Kate’s latest EP, shot by Ruari Barber-Fleming.
Kate further added wholeheartedly “I wanted to make sure I made no loss of connection with not only my audiences, but those who I work with creatively”. Despite the difficulty of keeping up a strong connection with your audiences, Kate was keen to support a new model of music platforming over the summer months of last year, namely live streaming. Her ‘DMC: Seclusion Session’ back in April led her to hosting further live stream gigs.
Kate was keen to promote how much of a saviour live streaming was for music during the earliest part of the summer. However, a saturation point was reached by the autumn: “I think it got all too much, live streaming is definitely not something I could do forever, but it definitely works”.
When asking Kate how frustrated she feels not being able to run a few live shows to support her new release, Kate confirmed that she will be taking part in a live streamed gig next month as part of the Big Burns Supper, on the 13th of February, where she will be taking the time to sit down with her audience to further promote her EP. Undoubtedly, there is a bit of a divided camp on live gig streaming, but Kate values its concept as an overall progressive move for music. She claimed: “Of course it’s not like the real thing, but it keeps the connection strong and still brings those audiences together in some way, and if we do it together, we’ll succeed”.
“It’s the dream to be doing music everyday whilst at university. I have grown a creative community and a place to settle for the time being, but I always find that my music writes itself when going or being at home.”
Kate further explained that she was part of a live stream collaboration that was directed by another local artist, Zac Scott, back in the summer of last year. Kate was asked by Zac to perform harmonies for a Coldplay cover series, choosing the song: ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’. Zac and Kate would work together through the means of home recording software and Zoom to bring the cover track to life. Kate fully admitted that this was such an exciting experience which not only offered her a whole new learning curve, but the realisation that this new culture fix for music was the new approach when it came to writing, recording and producing music for the future.
Essentially, the pandemic has reconfigured the bedroom as a site of creativity, however, Kate claims that she never left in the first place. “If anything I have moved downstairs into a free space to save looking at the same painted walls”. Currently at UWS in Ayr studying commercial music, Kate appreciates home as a sense to comfort her and her music: “I mean it’s the dream to be doing music everyday whilst at university. I have grown a creative community and a place to settle for the time being, but I always find that my music writes itself when going or being at home”. For instance, Kate explained she wrote “Confetti” within a day or two, writing parts of the first verse in Ayr, but she wrote out the track’s entirety on the way home, “It’s that homeward bound thing, maybe it’s that!”, she explains.
When asking Kate about her thoughts on the current state of music and its future, Kate advises: “One thing I will never take for granted again, is live music. Being involved in that atmosphere, next to friends, is the ultimate reward”. Kate further added she hopes for a huge societal change in attitudes towards supporting creatives and the arts overall, awoken by the advent of the pandemic and the subsequent halt to the entire music industry: “We are all guilty, but now it’s time for change”.
Kate playing live at the 2020 Big Burns Supper. Image: Stage Shot.
However, Kate does not disregard the help and support she has received locally over the past year, by the likes of the D&G Arts Festival, who commissioned her as part of their ‘Our Young Love’ series: “Without them, I would not be where I am now with this EP release”.
Albeit a huge insecurity, when asking Kate about what she has planned for 2021, she immediately announced that more music would likely fall on her audience’s ears and if the success of the vaccine allows it, a few live shows would follow. Kate concluded this conversation with a few progressive words that she hopes will resonate with fellow artists and creatives: “Keep going. Do it. You just don’t know what will happen tomorrow”.