- 2024-10-29
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MUSIC
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Katie Gavin Releases Debut Solo Album “What A Relief”
American indie pop band MUNA's lead singer Katie Gavin released her debut solo album “What A Relief” on October 25, 2024 via Saddest Factory Records.
The album comprises 12-songs, featuring a guest appearance from American singer-songwriter Mitski, produced by Tony Berg.
All songs were written by Katie Gavin. On the “Casual Drug Use”, Amber Bain co-wrote it.
Katie Gavin wrote the songs during her band MUNA over the last seven years, but these songs didn't match the band.
But she started to arrange the songs with her friend Eric Radloff and Scott Heiner when the pandemic happened.
When Saddest Factory Records founder Phoebe Bridgers heard Katie Gavin's demo, she introduced her to producer Tony Berg for the album.
And then, Katie Gavin recorded the album at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles earlier this year.
These songs were influenced by folk country. Katie Gavin told Vanity Fair, “I had a real return to Tori [Amos] and Ani [DiFranco], the Indigo Girls, and Melissa Etheridge and all of those amazing artists in my 20s, kind of bleeding into the time when I started working on this album.”- Katie Gavin said of the album, “This record spans a lot of my life - it's about having a really deep desire for connection, but also encountering all the obstacles that stood in my way to be able to achieve that, patterns of isolation or even boredom with the real work of love. What A Relief explores and portrays it honestly, without shame.”
She continued, “It's been really special for me to return to the sound that was my first musical home - the realm of the singer/songwriter, and to give light to these songs that I've cared for for a long time. I'm going to love playing them for y'all. I hope the album makes you feel seen and understood - I hope it feels like a hug or a weight off your shoulders.”
She added, “My dream would be for you to listen to it alone or with the people you feel most comfortable with, in a cozy place, maybe burn some incense or light a candle or something to get you in touch with your senses. If you're not a lyrics person, there's lots to explore in the production, but I do encourage reading along or listening to the words - I'm a words girl.” -
Katie Gavin explained about some tracks for the album.
“Aftertaste”
“That song takes place inside of the magnetic force, when I'm really drawn to somebody and still feeling like it's gonna work. Sometimes it's fun to surrender to that feeling – I think a lot of songwriters have a strong relationship with romantic fantasy. I thought this song would be a good place to start because to me it kind of serves as a bridge, sonically and thematically, between MUNA's world and the world we are going to with the solo record. 'Aftertaste' is a sweet song about carrying a torch for someone, realizing that you are going out to concerts and parties hoping to run into them there. The song is a playing out of a fantasy, really, both because it involves confessing your crush and finding out that it is reciprocated.”
“The Baton”
“I think I have been trying to write about family in a way that really gives people their whole humanity. What I like about that is that it acknowledges that my parents and my grandparents have these limited capacities in different ways, but I also have that. And, if I have kids I'm gonna do the same thing. I'm not special for being affected by that; I'm a part of this grand design.”
“Casual Drug Use”
“This is a song about being young and on bad behavior, and the comfort of having friends by your side. I wrote it in 2016 after a day trip I took with a friend, and so I thought it would be sweet to film the video on a road trip I had planned with my childhood best friend. The different colored potions in the video are meant to be a stand-in for whatever external substance we use to change our internal states.“
“As Good As It Gets” featuring Mitski
“This song was an attempt at a realistic love song. Some people may hear it as a break up song,” explains Gavin. “It concerns itself with the everyday feeling of a long term relationship, and the assertion of 'I think this is as good as it gets' evokes the question '...is this as good as it gets?' I am honored to have Mitski singing on this song, and am so glad we got to make a video for it with Alexa Viscius.”
“Inconsolable”
“I wrote this song in March of 2020, if you can believe it. I was thinking about how being in a relationship can sometimes feel like trying to speak a language you weren't taught. We all have so much we are up against and we were all modeled very different ways of loving, so it's hard to connect and it's very endearing that we keep trying. We tried recording this song a few different ways, but we landed on taking it back to bluegrass with Sara and Sean Watkins. We recorded it in about ten minutes on one of our last days in the studio, which was a very special experience. The video was directed by Amalia Irons and a bunch of my friends came together to make that possible. I'm very grateful to them for that.”
“Keep Walking”
“That song is like, 'I don't think we can interact as it's not good when we do, and I wish that wasn't the case, but sometimes you just have to accept that reality'.”
Photo by Alexa Viscus - source : Apple Music
