Katy J Pearson - Sound Of The Morning

Katy J Pearson - Sound Of The Morning

Tracklisting
1 Sound Of The Morning
2 Talk Over Town
3 Riverbed
4 Howl
5 Confession
6 The Hour
7 Float
8 Alligator
9 Game Of Cards
10 Storm To Pass
11 Willow’s Song

Katy J Pearson would like you to know that she is not a country singer. Sure, there was an influence of the genre to the now-26-year-old’s celebrated debut ‘Return’ -an album that saw Pearson snowball from Bristolian newcomer to a critically-acclaimed breakthrough star, selling out shows up and down the UK -but there’s also much, much more to her magnetic blend of soaring, widescreen melodies and warm, intimate storytelling than just three chords and the truth.

“There was one music video [for ‘Tonight’] that I did in the beginning where I line-danced and was wearing rhinestones, and from there it just turned it into this real thing,” she laughs. “Every review would be ‘country-tinged’ whereas actually, there was literally one country song on the record really. But I think that’s what’s good about the new record, that I think it’s not what people will expect from me. When people ask me what the new album sounds like, it’s just... a bit different?!”Happy to wax lyrical about the relative merits of Townes VanZandt, Elton John and Fugazi within the same breath, there’s always been a lot going on in Pearson’s musical palette (FYI she’d call her debut more of a folk-rock LP, if anything). But though the critics might have skewed the specifics of ‘Return’ -released via Heavenly Records in November 2020 -the acclaim for the album still came pouring in. Having had a previous taste of the industry via a major label project that quickly turned sour, the difference this time around was tangible: praised for “the arresting quality of [her] Kate Bush-meets-Dolly Parton vocal delivery” by The Times, labelled as “finding humanity in every moment” by DIY and with lead single ‘Take Back The Radio’ described as “a whoop of pure joy” in the Guardian, amidst the bleak toll of lockdown, something about this curiously optimistic album began to really resonate.

Written and recorded in late 2021 after a self-prescribed period of down time spent walking, going on daily cold water swims and “just chillaxing massively”, even the credits on ‘Sound of the Morning’ profess a new thirst for experimentation from the singer. Joining ‘Return’ producer Ali Chant on desk duties this time was Speedy Wunderground head honcho Dan Carey, who worked with Pearson on some of the album’s grittier tracks. “Dan got a completely different structural, songwriting style out of me which is what I wanted: something a bit more confident and in your face,” she nods. “He could see that there was a part of me that wanted to branch out, I just didn’t know where and how far to push it, but it was exactly the kind of progression I was looking for".

It all makes for a record that’s increasingly unafraid to explore life’s darker parts, but that does so with an openness that’s full of light. As an artist who professes to “always strive for the bittersweetness of things”, ‘Sound of the Morning’ does just that, taking the listener’s hand and guiding them through the good and the bad, like the musical equivalent of an arm around the shoulder. “I want people to feel things with my music, but I don’t want to cause my listener too much trauma,” she notes with a cheeky glint. “Counselling is expensive, so you’ve got to pick your battles...”

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