Thursday 11 February 2010
Kathryn Williams: Honey-Voiced Folk Veteran Launches New Album @ Komedia
Kathryn Williams, the immensely talented Geordie singer-songwriter famed for her beautiful and intimate folk-tinged songs, heads to Komedia in support of her eighth album release, The Quickening, the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed Two, which saw Williams collaborate with Neill MacColl.
Plenty has changed in the ten years since Kathryn Williams released her first record, 1999's Dog Leap Stairs, famously recorded for a large two figure sum (eighty quid).
As the Liverpool-bred, Newcastle-based singer-songwriter releases her new album The Quickening, she's not only busier than ever, with several wildly varied projects in the pipeline, but is at ease with a career that has had several ups and downs.
Those highs have included an unexpected Mercury prize nomination for her self-released second album Little Black Numbers in 2000.
From this, she ended up with a major label deal and a national profile for the first time. Williams was literally thrust into the limelight, and saw her invited to play a Nick Drake tribute show at London"s Barbican, having previously only played to fifty people before then.
A leap to a major label for 2002's Old Low Light proved more successful artistically than commercially, and by 2004 she was worn down by touring and disenchanted with music in general.
However, the result of this 'down' was the fascinating covers album Relations, where the honey-voiced Williams took on songs made famous by the rather throatier likes of Rod Stewart, Leonard Cohen and Kurt Cobain (the latter's All Apologies being a highlight, recast with a traditional folk arrangement.
Re-energised, 2005's Over Fly Over and the following year"s Leave To Remain saw Williams back in a comfortable niche.
But it was Two, 2008's acclaimed collaboration with Neill MacColl that really raised her profile again.
Defying categorisation, it switched between styles so comfortably it sounded like the work of old hands, rather than a couple who only met when they shared a bill.
Kathryn Williams visits Komedia Brighton on Monday 22 February at 8pm.
Tickets are £15 available on-line at www.komedia.co.uk/brighton or from the Box Office on 0845 293 8480.
by: Mike Cobley
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The Mercury Prize Nominated Kathryn Williams
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