INTERVIEW: Kate Bollinger on her new EP 'Look at it in the Light': "I spent a few years forgetting how to listen to myself and many of these songs are about that"
Image: CJ Harvey
American Kate Bollinger creates music that is a thing of beauty. Mixing pop, indie, folk and jazz with an experimental edge that brings to mind 1960s psychedelia, it lingers long in your soul. At the end of April she released her third EP Look at it in the Light, her first EP after signing to label Ghostly International after the independent release of her two previous EPs.
Creating the EP was an experience Bollinger relished more than usual after being forced to complete her previous EP in lockdown. Returning to the studio with her long term collaborator John Trainum she implemented a new set of creative rules. “We wanted to make limiting decisions and to stick with them, rather than leave things open, and we wanted to hear certain flaws and parts of the process,” she says.
The overriding theme of the EP is Bollinger acknowledging areas of her life she needs to examine in more detail, hence the name of the EP Look at it in the Light. One of these areas is her resistance to change, a human failing present in most of us. On the delicious title track with it’s swinging beat and tempo changes, Bollinger chooses to ignore it altogether “I know the way things change / So I try not to notice / I deny my fate” while on ‘Who Am I But Someone’, with it’s shuffling beat and cheerful soundscape, she acknowledges the uncomfortable truth that she will never change: “Who am I but someone who will resign to the comfort of who I always was?”
‘Lady in the Darkest Hour’ is also about change, but from a darker perspective as Bollinger struggled with a range of emotions and to hold everything together during the pandemic. ‘I'd go back to last December / To feel those things I can't remember,’ she sings.
Listening to Look at it in the Light is a gorgeous, moving experience with Bollinger’s music and voice capturing you almost completely unawares before bowling you over with its beauty. On the surface it is gentle and unassuming, but after just one listen you are hooked for life. We recently caught up with Bollinger to chat all about the EP and her music career.
Hi Kate! So lovely to talk to you today. How is life treating you at the moment?
Things are good! I've been lucky to be able to tour a lot already this year, I'm working on some new music. I'm back home for a little while recovering from oral surgery, so I'm going to be able to have some time at home this month.
Congratulations on the release of your new EP Look at it in the Light, it is absolutely beautiful! What was your intention for this EP when you were pulling it together? Was there a particular message or sound you wanted to project with it?
I had a much clearer vision for this EP than I have with past projects, at least as far as sounds and influences, but the songs were still very much independent from each other. I typically don't work with a predetermined vision in mind - I write songs and then by the end there's usually some thread running through them. The thread usually being my life and feelings and experiences. These songs are all about growing up in one way or another. I spent a few years forgetting how to listen to myself and many of these songs are about that: losing touch with my gut and being in denial of certain things in my life.
Can you tell us a little about the creative process making the EP?
Some of the songs on this EP were written collaboratively with my producer and guitarist and some were written alone in my apartment on my guitar. Once the songs were written and I had a rough sense of how I wanted everything to sound, we tracked the songs live as a band at White Star Sound, a studio in Louisa, Virginia. The band for this EP was made up of Chris Lewis (guitar and additional bass), Jimmy Trussell (bass), Devonne Harris (drums, Rhodes, keys), John Trainum (many various overdubs), and myself (vocals, guitars, percussion, overdubs). The band stayed for a few days and after they left, John (production, mixing, co-writing) and I stayed and produced everything out, recorded vocals, added extra little things. The studio is on a beautiful farm out in the country with goats and chickens and the sweetest farm dog ever named Maude. It's been a really inspiring place to make music the past few years.
If we take it all the way back to the beginning, what role did music play in your life when you were growing up?
It has always played a big role in my life. My mum and older brothers are all musicians, so I was very influenced by them and began writing songs at an early age.
How did your career in music begin, was it something you knew you were always going to do or did it come about more randomly?
It was something I always wanted, but realised at a certain point wasn't practical or possible. I went to school and specifically did not major in music because I thought I needed to keep music and songwriting separate from any job prospects. For that reason, it feels pretty surreal to be doing any of this. In some ways I think not putting any pressure on my music to do well has really helped my project become what it is. It will be interesting to see how things go now that I'm more invested and seeing this as an actual career in music.
If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone who was thinking about recording and releasing their own music for the very first time, what would it be?
When I was first putting out music, I wasn't very precious about it at all. I would record and release a song on Bandcamp or Soundcloud before it was even completely finished being written. I don't know if that's always the best way to go about things because some of my favorite artists are extremely precious about their work, but at the time it was really helpful for me to not be. I would say: write all the time, write and record with your friends, and once you get around to releasing your music, share it! I know so many talented songwriters who silently release their music because they're afraid to self promote, but in most cases it won't be heard unless you show it to someone.
It’s no secret the music industry does not have a reputation of being a safe space for women, in the main because it has been run by older, white, straight men since its inception. What are your thoughts on gender equality and sexism in the music industry?
For me, it's been the sort of thing where you don't realise how uncomfortable you feel until you're in a really comfortable and supportive creative situation with a bunch of other women. Making my last music video with Pear Juice Productions, an amazing female-run production company out of LA, was a really illuminating experience because it was so supportive and made me feel very understood in a way that I hadn't realized was missing in the first place. I know many women have had much more concrete negative experiences in the music industry, but for me it's (mostly) been a culmination of little things up until this point. I was listening to an interview recently with Liz Phair, where she talks about the shared language between women in music and that made a lot of sense to me. In working with Pear Juice I felt like I was around people who spoke the same language and really understood - it's shown me the value in having a creative community within the music industry.
Look at it in the Light is out now via Ghostly International. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Kate Bollinger you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
