We had the pleasure of
speaking with the talented multi-instrumentalist and
singer / songwriter Kate Stables about her
project This is the Kit and the beautiful debut album
Krülle Bol.
Now living in Paris, Kate started writing and playing music
in her home town of Winchester and later in Bristol where
she co-founded the band Whalebone Polly with friend Rachel
Dadd and began working with her partner Jesse Vernon on the
project Morningstar. It was there in 2005 that Kate began
This is the Kit, the spirit of which she describes simply
as “writing my songs and playing them, with people joining
in along the way”.
Since the project’s early days, This is the Kit has been a
favorite of influential BBC Radio 1 dj Rob da Bank, and
Kate has recorded an acoustic session for Rob’s OneMusic
show. Rob declared back in January 2006 that if Kate isn’t
“signed within six months I’ll eat my size 12 Green Flash
shoes slathered in mustard! Just watch me.” While Rob may
have found himself chewing for a little while, Kate soon
signed with Angel’s Egg records to release her demos in
Japan and then with the French label Micorbe Records to
release the debut album Krülle Bol.
Kate recorded Krülle Bol in Italy with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse).
Krülle Bol, released in early 2008, highlights Kate’s warm
and shifting vocals, buoyed by sparkling guitar and banjo,
and joined by Jesse on percussion, fiddle and vocals. “The
songs are descriptions and little stories and usually a bit
of a tangle. . . . Most of my songs are not
about one thing each. There will be verses about different
things -- just to throw people off the
trail. . . . I don’t mind if people don’t
understand things. In fact, I think that in that way I am a
bit of a contrarian, messing with people.”
One of the standout tracks from the album is the quietly
beautiful Two Wooden Spoons. “I wrote it when I just moved
to France actually. I started writing it about a certain
situation that I was thinking about, and then it ended up
kind of being about lots of different ‘two wooden
spoons’ -- pairs in general, sort of soul mates.”
In terms of writing, Kate points to the Irish poet Seamus
Heaney and Bob Dylan as influences. She also enjoys old
novels, like the humorist Jerome K.
Jerome – “sort of Edwardian comedy
[laughs]. I get a kick out of old fashioned
language. . . sometimes that sneaks in I
think. Because I do find myself writing songs almost
exactly how I talk, which gets me in trouble sometimes”.
“I don’t know if it’s particularly obvious in my music, but
I listened to a lot of hip hop growing up and get very
excited about people who can write such brilliant texts and
deliver them is such a different way. I like the rhythm and
the sounds of words -- it’s what I kind of get
excited about.”
Kate is no stranger to touring, often joining artists like
José Gonzales, Herman Dune, The National and Clogs. Who
would she like to play a show with next? “I have been
thinking about this recently. There is a brilliant band
called V.O., they are Belgian, and I would love to play a
show with them and maybe somehow engineer a sort of
collaboration. That would be exciting. Lovely songs and
brilliant arrangements – a great kind of
atmosphere. I would love to do a concert with Alistair
Roberts. He is a brilliant Scottish songwriter who worked
with the project the Amalgamated Sons of Rest. And also
people like Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.”
This is the Kit embarked on a multi-week tour of Japan this
year with Rachel Dadd and Morningstar. “Japan was amazing.
So at the moment, I am totally in love with touring and
playing concerts -- we have some tours to do in
England next week, and I am sure that after that I will
think touring is rubbish
[laughs] . . . At the moment, it is a
lot of what it is about for me.” Asked about possibly
touring in the US, Kate said that there are wishes, but no
plans as of yet. “I would love to, but I just don’t know
how to swing it. We just have to see.
. . . I think we would quite like
to . . . spend a good chunk of time
there just playing and exploring.”
Kate is busy putting together the next This is the Kit
album which she hopes to record this spring (2009). She
also hopes to release a new Whalebone Polly EP with Rachel
Dadd. “We all have lots of pans of soup on the go, so we
are stirring them all whenever we can” [laughs].
We spoke for a bit about the seeming resurgence of the
singer / songwriter. “It’s true, things kind of
fluctuate and swell. At the moment, it is quite big and
present. I think I believe in collective
unconscious -- no one copies each other, there
are these trends -- swellings of certain things.
At the moment it is nice that there is a lot of songwriting
going on. It’s also nice when there is a general dance
music vibe as well – but, right now, people playing
instruments and singing, [laughs] I think that’s kind of
good for the human soul.”
What’s on your hi-fi at the
moment?
“It sounds like a very
square thing to say, but I find it quite hard to keep up
with all of the new music at the
moment. . . . I listen mostly to friends’
music, but occasionally a big name or two sneaks in there.”
• V.O. [http://www.myspace.com/voband]
• Erica Buettner, “she has just got an amazing voice, and
it’s a total pleasure to listen
to -- she writes brilliant songs”
[http://www.myspace.com/ericabuettner]
• Soy un Caballo [http://www.myspace.com/soyuncaballo]
• Bonnie Prince Billy [http://www.bonnieprincebilly.com]
• Portishead’s album “Third” [http://www.portishead.co.uk]
• Kimya Dawson’s album “Alphabutt”
[http://www.kimyadawson.com]
• Herman Dune [http://www.hermandune.com]
“Krülle Bol” is released on the French label Microbe
Records [http://www.microberecords.com] and also available
on iTunes.
A collection of This is the Kit demos is available from the
Japanese label Angel’s Egg. [http://www.angelsegg.jp.org;
http://www.myspace.com/angels_egg]
The single “Two Wooden Spoons” is available on Rob da
Bank’s Sunday Best Records. [http://www.sundaybest.net]
This Is The Kit (Official) | MySpace