Magic of the Micro & Macro...

I wanted to share a few pics from the feather sessions we recorded last year. Amidst it being the hottest day of ‘22 when filming, it had a few more redeeming qualities. Namely the gifts of Ed Hall who shot the entire thing so seamlessly, Arianna Sansone who embodied the songs so beautifully, including the ladies that continually astound me with their musicality: Izzy Baker, Anna Corcoran, Rachel Nicholas and Helen Milroy.

There were so many nods to magic that day… I’ve been dying to mention the timing of those two natural spotlights piercing through the sun roof and glittering over Arianna half way through filming feather. Ed managed to grab that moment flawlessly.

Even the blissful stroll home in the August sun, past the docks and watching the swans sway on the water felt significant to me. It’s not that I was seeking magic, but more it presented itself so naturally that day.

There’s so much meaning for me woven into feather, as both a musical and personal journey. And while I had it everything planned out, to share and keep to some militant schedule, I discovered time and time again that magic cannot be bent or controlled by my own will. The micro (me) has no permission to demand from the macro (life). Magic cannot be chained nor held captive, pushed to perform when “you” are ready. It’s got its own flightpath.

I guess where I’m going with this waffling essay, is that the remainder of what I still had planned for feather and never quite got round to, I will leave until it happens organically and contribute to the project only when it feels right.

I have so much lined up for 2024 that beats to a different drum. Feather was the shedding of a self that no longer serves or suits the skin I’m now in. Where once I felt conflicted by the aches of time, the heart and mind is where I now feel at home again.

There’ll be more* - you’ll find “The Feather Collection” YouTube playlist building patiently over the year with some “String” shows which emulate the emphatic sound we managed to create at the Philharmonic this year.

Thanks anyone who’s shared enthusiasm with me over my creative processes. I can’t wait to continue following the joy!

xx

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Watch the "Feather" session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFBkfNNtmY

Listen to the Feather EP here (Spotify link): https://open.spotify.com/album/14zHjkBFu54B4VVGuLEGo4?si=e2fe6c39ab7b40ff

Boxing Day: My idea of fun 🌅💜

I spent many years wondering why I couldn't just put it all down for minute, but I realised - I can’t. I spend every moment thinking about transmuting imagination into something tangible. Whether that’s music, poetry, video or design. It’s equally energising and exhausting (luckily the first mostly, when in full flow).

I can’t really stand to keep all my ideas in anymore, I always worried it’s “too much” for people - but truth is, it’s too much for me! My mind is like a fishbowl and in need of constant renewal and release to keep the waters fresh. Otherwise it’s very easily swamped and stifled.

I do believe more than half the battle we all often experience with creativity is doubting the place it goes once it leaves the inner realm. It’s pretty scary to let it all slip through your fingertips after clutching on to a piece of yourself for so long. But that’s the price we pay to find peace in our discomfort. To push ourselves outside of ourselves is what it means to evolve, stretch to our furthest reaches and get even closer to knowing how limitless we all actually are.

Right best get back to the mince pies - elaborate as ever even on Boxing Day. Christ! 😂

Latest video release: "Feather" West Kirby Session" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFBkfNNtmY

10 Year Anniversary: "Boots" Animated Lyric Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUWfZ7wt7Q

"Feather EP" has been set free! 🕊️

Hi there friends 🕊️

You finally can listen to Feather as I first intended it to be heard - as a collection curated carefully in its order. Songs of human fragility in the realms of time, heart, mind and the soul.

I wrote these songs when I was most at odds with life and worn by its seemingly endless trials. But I need to say, I don’t feel like a bird with a broken wing anymore 🤍 - I think there’s a point when too much adversity snaps something out of you and does you a favour. It forces you to give up any needless obsessions with slipping time, how we appear in this world and our standing within it. Instead all that you do is for simpler sakes of joy and appreciation for being alive.

It wasn’t straight forward getting this EP out but I realised that’s the very nature of it - somehow drenched in sorrow while being the purest thing I’d ever made. I deeply believe that I wrote it for my mum too. Becoming acutely aware of her own quiet struggle, depth and multidimensional beauty. It was also through the intensity of grief, that I felt pushed into a kind of freedom I had never known before.

I felt primed to leave all pain behind, in order to serve what the soul deeply asks for. And I know my mum wanted to see me happy, to stop all doubting - she always wanted me to fly 🕊️ so now I’m really trying x

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Credits & Thank Yous

Thank you Isabella Baker and Anna Corcoran for your incredible musicianship. You guys are the most intuitive and creative players I know and I’m constantly inspired by you - feel so lucky to be able to share the stage with you both too.

Thank you James Wyatt from Sloe Flower Studio for holding the space where these songs could flourish. For you sympathetic gifts as a producer, mixer and engineer of this project. Thank you Rogan Kelsey too for your extra attention to detail on this, it’s the first time I’ve 100% felt good about my work.

Lastly but not least, thank you Isabella Rubin for the perfect photography to go with this collection of songs. You are incredible!

Stream, download, save 🤍 hope you love it!! xxx

https://katienicholas.bandcamp.com/album/feather-ep