Kathryn Williams releases her new album “Relations” this Fall through One
Little Indian Records. “Relations” is a beautiful collection of
interpretations of classic well-known tracks and some lesser-known gems
originally by the likes of Jackson Browne, Nirvana and Neil Young.
Produced by Kathryn Williams, “Relations” was recorded with her regular
band in her hometown, Newcastle. She recently released “The Quickening” on
One Little Indian to some great critical responses.
Kathryn Williams was described by Time Out as, ‘One of Britain’s finest
singer-songwriters,’ and by the Guardian as, ‘One of the most singular
voices in British music.’ Marie Claire wrote, ‘Her songs are things of
haunting and fragile beauty.’ Q hailed her as, ‘[The] first lady of UK
folk.’
“I suppose I decided to do a covers album to help me fall in love with
music again,” Williams explains. “The follow-up to Old Low Light was
ready to be recorded, but I was feeling cynical and I didn’t want to take
that into the studio with me. We did a gig at Regent’s Park and recorded
it, the next day we were discussing the possibility of doing a covers EP
using two songs from that gig and a few more. Then we started making a
list of songs that would be good to try, and the list just kept growing.
Some of the songs that ended up on the album came as a surprise to me. I
thought I’d definitely do a Dylan cover, and something by the Beatles or
John Lennon but songs just choose you sometimes, without any apparent
reason. It’s like with friends – you can’t define why your relationships
work, you just connect with some people.”
Tracklisting (original performer; writer):
1. In A Broken Dream (Python Lee Jackson; David Bentley)
2. Birds (Neil Young)
3. Thirteen (Big Star; Alex Chilton/Chris Bell)
4. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
5. The Ballad Of Easy Rider (The Byrds; Roger McGuinn)
6. A Guy What Takes His Time (Mae West; Ralph Rainger)
7. Candy Says (Velvet Underground; Lou Reed)
8. How Can We Hang On To A Dream (Tim Hardin)
9. I Started A Joke (Bee Gees; Gibb/Gibb/Gibb)
10. Easy And Me (Lee Hazelwood)
11. Spit On A Stranger (Pavement; Stephen Malkmus)
12. All Apologies (Nirvana; Kurt Cobain)
13. Beautiful Cosmos (Ivor Cutler)
14. These Days (Nico; Jackson Browne)
www.kathrynwilliams.net/
myspace.com/kathrynwilliams