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Katie Coyle Talks to NME About New Releases and The Future
It's not too often that a journalist gets the chance to chat to a star in their own environment. Ordinarily, a stuffy bar or a coffee shop can leave a musician, used to their surroundings and their own people, just feeling like they want to escape, and leads to them answering questions quickly, hastily, and without too much thought. So, when offered the chance to speak to 7-time award winner Katie Coyle at her newly acquired ranch in Austin, Texas last week, it was not one that I could afford to turn down.
It has been a rather rollercoaster-esque ride for the 19 year-old over the past four and a half months, but as I found out, with the help of her ranch and some of the right people around her, Katie is now beginning to forge a new mind-set, and one which is concerned with only the music, only the art, only her own happiness. The most pressing matter for Katie though, was her new album...or rather, new releases. It was refreshing to hear the youngster talk to openly and freely about her music...so we'll let her get on with it.
"It's been a while since "Raindrops..." came out now, so I've decided, after the many hundreds of messages I've had, asking when the next album will be, to make this, sort of, announcement. I'm really humbled by how many people have been in touch by the way, it has been marvelous to know that my music matters to people enough that they're looking for more. I had no idea, honestly. So if you are reading this, and you did send me a message, thank you very much. I had originally planned, if I'm honest, to make a second album, and then move on to possibly do something different, but I've changed my mind very recently because of an agreement I made with someone else.
"Originally, as I say, the plan was that I'd do my second full length, and have it released by maybe November time. Then I was going to put the feelers out and see if there would be anyone interested in working with me on a different kind of project. I was going to go into work on that sometime in the new year if I could find someone who I thought I could gel with and work well with. However, I discovered that there was no need to search for someone, when the right person and I got to talking and he decided he wanted to work with me as soon as he heard the proposal I had.
"So the new idea, is to have a 5 or 6 song EP recorded ASAP, that's coming out over the next few weeks, maybe next month sometime. It has been mostly recorded already, but I will be looking for a producer for it (OOC: PM Me). It is tentatively titled "Foundations Laid on Sand EP", which is a title which I thought really epitomised just how fragile everything in life is. One big wave of anything in life can wash all that we have away. I could have, of course, produced it myself, but I think it would be cool to have someone else come in in post production, and have a look at what they can do with it. The sound that someone else can bring with their vision behind the desk really can't be underestimated.
"The reason behind the need for an EP, I think, as opposed to just waiting to do a full length album, is because my sound has changed so dramatically. The debut was so literal and so pop-orientated, that it was a different side of me. I can't sit here and say 'It isn't the real me', because clearly it is. That was what I was feeling at the time, so that was what came out of my recording sessions. Whilst it may not be what I set out to record, I'm still exceedingly proud of it, believe me on that one. It's something I'll always treasure, and definitely a marker for where I was in life at the time. The EP though, will be more of what 'authentic Katie' sounds like. I am a folk singer originally, so that means you're gonna hear a lot more in the way of different structure. My songs may sound a little weird, and a LOT more stripped back, but that's folk music for you. The lyrics will be imaginitive, and they will be full of metaphors and other plays on words and stuff, and this allows me more chance to play around with what I'm doing. The debut album was full of stories, so it had to be "da-da-da-da...da-da-da-da-da....da-da-da-da-da.....the end." whereas with this new direction, songs will still have meanings, but without having a story as such to tell, I can go, "da-da....da....da-da-da-da-da.....da......da-da-da....da-da". Ok, so that might not make sense to a lot of people, but hopefully when the EP comes out, people will hear what I mean. It's going to sound a lot more fun and light and airy, and it'll be more experimental. It's just, the sort of thing I would love to release, so I'm happy to have the sort of career, and to be at the stage I'm at, to get the chance to experiment and stuff with what I'm doing. So you can look out for that soon, I hope it comes across well.
"The big news though, as far as I'm concerned, comes after the EP. As many people will be aware by now, I am very close friends with a particular massively huge and popular musician. I like to think we have helped each other out through our respective problems over the past months, and it's given us this kind of...bond if you will. That man of course, is Ryan Ross Hernandez, easily the biggest solo artist in the world. Ryan and I talk a lot, and we have become very close, as I say, over the past few months. So we were talking a while back about something I wanted to work on, and Ryan just, you know, jumped at the chance as soon as I told him what it was. Which, by the way, is the most thrilling thing that can happen to a 19 year-old lifelong fan. So, I suppose I can give you the exclusive now, right? Ok.
"In a short while, we haven't finalised any dates yet but, Ryan Ross Hernandez and Katie Coyle will be collaborating on an entire full length album together. It's something I have wanted to do for a while. I love the way a male voice and a female voice can dance around each other, together they bring such a beauty to a song that it almost becomes life-like, and with Ryan, I feel like I can work with someone who I have the correct chemistry with, someone who is an actual friend and someone I trust who can really make it work. We talked about it together, and we decided that our own styles of music are different enough that we can do something that sounds fresh, light, new if you will, and not just like "Katie and Ryan recording together". But we also thought that we aren't so different that we will sound too "worked" when we record together. You know what I mean? It should still manage to sound natural and cool because we have enough in the way of natural similarities.
"But that's not all. We aren't going to be doing a "normal" album. Don't expect to hear a standard 10 - 15 song album filled with to-ing and fro-ing acoustic male-female collaboratory tracks littered with guitars and polished to within an inch of their lives. I want to be "arty" here. I want to be seen as innovative with this album that we're doing. In my original proposal to Ryan, I said that the album might end up with 1 track...it might end up with 68 tracks. At this point, no one can tell. What we intend to do though, I can tell, I can tell you right now in fact haha. The "arty" thing is going to be in the way we record it. Most people know by now that I bought a ranch in Texas a few weeks back. It's in the middle of nowhere, and it's so secluded, just serene, perfect, amazing. The best thing about it though, is that I can make as much noise as I want, because no one else can hear me. For this reason, I decided to install some recording equipment in one of the many spare rooms. It has like microphones, amps, all sorts of instruments, everything, just kind of, everywhere. So what we'll do, is we'll just use that room, and it'll be recording whenever we're in there. The room will just have like bean bags and cushions on the floor, and instruments everywhere. It encourages comfort, and relaxation, and hopefully creativity.
"That means, that whatever the walls of the room pick up, could theoretically end up on the album. That's why I say it won't be 10-15 average tunes on there. We may have a few songs which are polished and done like reals songs, but we may also have a lot of 1 minute jams, hour-long jams whatever happens. I'm hoping, as well, that we can have the chance to include little silly things like random conversations we might have, just anything that happens in there. Essentially, I want to create an "experience" rather than an album. Even if we play something and someone mucks it up...why can't that go onto an album? I still think it's beautiful to hear two artists just make the music that they want to, and it can be so much more beautiful if it's as organic as this will be. That's my buzzword by the way, 'organic'. It'll be like, just two friends, famous musicians yes, but friends nonetheless, just sitting and hanging out, and playing music when it comes to them. This concept might not work out in everyone's head yet, but to me, it makes total sense already. I know where it's supposed to go, so if people don't get it yet, I hope that they at least give the concept a chance.
This album will be like my baby. It will be great to work on it with Ryan, and I hope it's something that comes across as new and arty, and not just crazy. Hopefully people like it. I want to be an innovator. I don't just want to become another face in the crowd |
