Kathryn Williams | Latest News
 

new album 22nd february 2010
new tourdates for 2010
james yorkston shows- 20th/21st december 2009

october 2009 shows
european billy bragg shows
kathryn williams and neill maccoll- "two"
matthew jay tribute
single- "Come With Me"- OUT NOW!
words from the garden
kathryn writing with neill maccoll
new flickr photos uploaded
"when" video
Leave To Remain
new forum online.
Colours are Brighter.

"The Quickening"- the most accomplished album of Kathryn's career to date, is due for release in the uk on 22nd february 2010. The album will be kathryn's first release on One Little Indian Records.

The new record was recorded at Bryn Derwen studio in North Wales ‘in four days, all live, three takes maximum’ Kathryn explained to Mojo magazine earlier this year, and contains some of her sharpest, most mesmerising song writing to date, including a couple of co-writes with longstanding collaborator, guitarist David Scott. ‘It has a mood’ she suggests, ‘a slightly sinister palette with lyrics that are raw. I see myself in these songs a lot, whereas before I invented characters.’ It is produced by Kathryn and Kate St. John and mixed by Kathryn and David Wrench.

The recording set-up of ‘The Quickening’ lends the record an urgency and immediacy borne directly out of the musicians playing off each other – none of whom had heard the songs prior to the recording. Says Kathryn ‘When I listen to the songs now, I can see that room in Wales, remember what each take felt like, with my heart in my mouth, wanting to get to the end without a fuck up!’

Of the songs Kathryn says ‘I always wonder if people get the same pictures in their head as me from the lyrics and music. I see the songs as shapes when I sing them, as journeys through pictures or film’. Album opener ‘50 White Lines’ is a great example, Kathryn re-imagining the long journeys on tour as a Bonnie & Clyde style escapade; in the background a male voice ‘counts’ the road markings or lights as they flash by in the protagonist’s flight from city to city, town to town.

‘It’s a little world of rules I couldn’t write down but I work to them and around them, and I know my way around that world,’ says Kathryn of her song writing itself, ‘I’m forever scared that the way of making the songs will leave me. But in the end, that is part of what drives me.’

For sometime Mercury nominee Kathryn, ‘The Quickening’ marks the beginning of a new relationship with One Little Indian records in a deal that will also see the release of archive material, a children’s record made with Anna Critchley, and the debut by Kathryn’s other sideline The Ish Inventors – a work in progress that is being made with Nev Clay, a songwriter and poet Kathryn has worked with as an artist in residence.

Tourdates 2010...
last 2 shows of 2009...
DECEMBER 20th (last few tickets left) & 21st (now sold out) supporting
james yorkston at the luminaire, kilburn, london

2010...

FEBRUARY
21st BIRMINGHAM, glee club

FEBRUARY
22nd BRIGHTON- komedia 0845 2938 480

FEBRUARY 23rd
BRISTOL- the tunnels 0117 929 9008

MARCH 1st
MANCHESTER- band on the wall 0845 2500 500

MARCH 2nd
GLASGOW- king tut's 08444 999 990

MARCH 3rd
NEWCASTLE- live theatre 0191 232 1232

MARCH 6th
LONDON purcell room 0844 875 0073

October shows
kathryn is playing a short run of shows in late october 2009- masham, bury, london, bracknell, exeter and lincoln. she'll be doing them with the amazing bass player simon edwards, who appears on the new album- out early next year!
for more details on the shows, go to the tourdates page...

Billy Bragg shows
k & n will be supporting billy bragg in paris, antwerp, frakfurt and cologne from 25th to 29th september. more details here

"two" out march 3rd 2008

the new album- "Two" by Kathryn Williams and Neill MacColl is due for release on March 3rd. more information about this record at WilliamsMacColl.com. kathryn and neill wrote, recorded and mixed this record over just three weeks in 2007. there's a quicktime video telling the story of the record here or below is the youtube vesion...

go to WilliamsMacColl.com for samples of all songs

actually, here's the player- click for samples...
 

matthew jay tribute...

single- come with me... out now
the frist single from "Two" will be "Come With Me". it's available on itunes and is paired with "Ghost" (exclusive track). there are a couple of great reviews at WilliamsMacColl.com/press. See kathryn and neill perform Come With Me live at WilliamsMacColl.com/videos.html or on the youtube video above.

words from the garden

kathryn has been involved in a writers in residence project at the alnwick garden in northumberland. the results of the project are being released on a very limited edition CD by caw in collaboration with new writing north. 4 poets were involved with the project, and the whole thing has been put together in a soundscape with music by kathryn w and nev clay. the CD artwork is by kathryn w. you can buy the CD from the caw records online shop.

click here to download an mp3

Leave To Remain

Kathryn's new album, Leave To Remain, came out on October 2nd. Early reviews have been great... "her most haunting work since Old Low Light" -The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2376282.html "her best album yet" Observer Music Monthly http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/reviews/story/0,,1871737,00.html We'll update you with more reviews, etc on the press page soon. go to the music page to hear samples.
 
new dates- pigalle club and greenbelt...
kathryn is playing at the pigalle club, piccadilly on monday 10th september. looks like a great venue. take a look at their site... full details on the tourdates page. other new dates include the greenbelt festival on 24th august. kathryn is only doing a few one-offs at the moment, as she's spending a lot of time writing (see next story)...

Kathryn writing with neill maccoll...

kathryn's been writing a lot of new material with guitarist neill maccoll. the audience at the tricycle theatre show were treated to previews of a couple of their songs. kathryn says that she's really happy with this new material and that she's really excited about the coming album. check out the tricycle theatre thread on the forum for reactions to kathryn and neill's new songs.


new shots uploaded to flickr


we've just uploaded a load of new photos to kathryn's flickr page. new photos include shots from the daughters of albion show at the barbican and cork opera house, sage gateshead photos, and some from the recent shows in london and gloucestershire. other people have been busy uploading more tricycle theatre shots, celtic connections photos and yet more end of the road pictures.
if you have any shots from gigs or whatever, you can upload them to our group and tghey'll become part of the gallery on this site.  click here to see the photos as a slide show.
 

"when" video

now online at kathrynwilliams.net/when.html


 New forum online.
we've finally got a forum back online since losing the old one to hacker-madness. so sign up and talk to us! the forum is at www.kw-forum.co.uk



Colours are Brighter

kathryn has contributed a song to the "colours are brighter" save the children album, which is out on 16th October. the album was put together by belle and sebastian and features songs for children by fourtet, franz ferdinand, the kooks, the divine comedy and loads of other brilliant people. it's a really great record, everyone's really gone for it and decided to forget being cool! the full tarcklisting is:
1.  Four Tet featuring Princess Watermelon - Go Go Ninja Dinosaur
2.  Rasputina - A Skeleton Bang
3.  Franz Ferdinand - Jackie Jackson
4.  Snow Patrol - I am an Astronaut
5.  The Divine Comedy - Three Cheers For Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho
6.  The Kooks - The King & I
7.  Half Man Half Biscuit - David Wainwright's Feet
8.  The Barcelona Pavilion - Tidy Up Tidy Up
9.  Jonathan Richman - Our Dog is Getting Older Now
10.  Belle and Sebastian - The Monkeys are Breaking Out the Zoo
11. Ivor Cutler Trio - Mud
12. The Flaming Lips - The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now
13. Kathryn Williams - Night Baking
more details and samples at http://www.coloursarebrighter.com

 

tour dates

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