Katie Coyle returns with an all-new edgier soundSinger-songwriter returns from a year-long hiatus with deep new single.
Katie has traded in her famous acoustic guitar for an electric model for her new sound.For some artists, finding a groove that they fit into and following that is a career decision that brings them widespread praise, massive success and critical acclaim the like of which would inspire envy in any rational human. However, for others, the fascination with growth and learning is so inherent within everything they do that returning to the same style and genre time and again has never been an option. These artists are often lost in the masses of similar sounding songs that are released week after week, as they challenge their fan base and ask them to come with them on a journey that has more twists and turns than the deepest detective novel. This approach is not one without its problems though. As much as growth and evolution can be a rewarding notion for the self, many find themselves with an ever-changing fan base, giving them a lack of stability and certainty in their career. However, for some, that's just another part of the fun.
One such artist is Katie Coyle. Still only 20 years old, the London-born singer-songwriter has gone through a great many changes in her three-year career to date. When she first emerged into our consciousness with a debut album that took the world by storm, she was a very literal lyricist - simple and quiet - singing about things we can all relate to with just the gentle musings of an electric guitar to accompany her almost whispering, beautiful tones. When she would return later with a series of singles, her sound was a lot richer and more rounded, filled with guitars, gentle drums, piano and the occasional dulcet whine of a saddened violin. Now focussing on themes of love, loss, depression and oppression, the singer brought something much more marketable and radio friendly, scoring a succession of number ones along the way and capturing the imagination of the music world. It allowed her the chance to ascend to heights so heady that she would headline festivals, host awards shows and go on a co-headline tour with arguably the world's biggest pop star, Nadia Berry.
Fast forward a year, though, and things are very different for Katie Coyle. The media furore that engulfed her during what was undoubtedly the strongest period of her career has long since subsided, the release of her last single is little more than a memory, and her only professional appearance in the past 12 months has been a solitary sold out comeback show in LA. Of all things that have faded from the diminuitive Coyle in the last year, however, one is more conspicuous than any other - the seemingly perpetual frown. A simple look at Katie Coyle circa 2013 tells you that the angsty teenage years have been banished to the past, the troubled young artist has been locked somewhere dark and cobwebbed, and replaced by a bright and warm young woman who has spent her past year adapting her own abilities, learning more about the music that surrounds her and drinking in a range of new influences.
The result is quite startling. Gone are the acoustic soft touches that summed up the early career of the artist, replaced by a sound much more edgy, much more grown up and definitely far more mature. She has spent the past year funding and producing some of the newest indie artists in the industry, and it's quite clear from her new single that she has drawn much influence from what they had to offer. The new sound would perhaps be best described as indie-punk, a lo-fi approach to a genre that is more than a million miles from what anyone would have expected from Katie Coyle. It's by no means "heavy", and its relation to punk is almost non-existent in the purest form, but it's a sound truly so distant from what we have come to expect from the unassuming youngster that it's quite a breath of fresh air. She is more edgy, more challenging and much braver and bold than her music has allowed her to be in the past.
The song itself opens with a slow guitar riff picked over the top of some hard hitting yet steady drum beats. This soon gives way to what is one of the biggest eyebrow raising moments of the song, with the intro turning into a distinctly indie rock riff that will have listeners gently bopping their heads in surprise as much as they are impressed. It's not Katie Coyle at all, in this opening riff, but why does that matter? This is n indication of just what sort of artist Katie Coyle is - her desire to continuously branch out, her refusal to stick to a safe and tried method. The riff with its slight distortion and its over-riding attitude immediately blows away the cobwebs of a year on the sidelines, and brings us a fresh artist that is so different she almost feels brand new. It's raw, it's edgy and it has something quite unique.
The verses themselves are the only part that will remind her fans of Katie Coyle from days gone by. Her haunting voice is as beautiful and liquid as always, and the verses allow this to shine with only the quiet high notes in the background punctuating her musings as the stars do the night sky. The choruses on the other hand are a different matter altogether. These are where Coyle really lets go and clearly is having fun. The rockier edge is on display as the opening riff returns, but faster and somehow brighter as it accompanies her thoughtful lyrics quite brilliantly - her voice layered and backed by a quiet male voice sounds stronger than ever. Such is the hunger and the desire to prove herself and her growth in this song that it's almost a shame when it ends so abruptly.
And then there are the lyrics. The lyrics. Was it ever possible for Katie Coyle to get any darker? Apparently so. Her lyricism here is quite different from what listeners will have known from her past, but strangely familiar at the same time. They have borrowed elements from the styles we all came to love from Coyle, bringing some of the literal musings her debut gifted alongside the deeper and more analytical approach taken in her work ever since. This is a song about love, but it's also so much more. Desire, loss, dreams and dejection all seem to make their way into a song that is layered so deeply in emotion that it's yet another strong suit from a girl who has delivered much in her first three professional years.
We've waited a long time for this - a comeback from a girl whose disappearance from the industry left a gaping hole in the folk-pop scene. Ironically, her return has not seen that gap filled, but a new one entirely plugged as she brings with her a sound that suggests a simple love of music and a desire to explore as much of it as is possible. It would be easy with such changes to come across as quite self indulgent, somewhat a show off, but you don't get that air from Katie Coyle. She seems like someone with a real interest in simply exploring the pure width of the music spectrum in order to find what is truly herself. This is a majestic comeback from a girl we have long been waiting for. Don't wait so long next time, Katie.
Artist: Katie Coyle
Song: Light Me Up
Genre: Indie-punk/Lo-Fi
Label: Studio60
Produced: Katie Coyle
All lyrics and music by: Katie Coyle
Additional guitars: Matt Benjamin
Drums: Stu Watkins
Katie says: "Of all the singles I've released to date, I've never ever felt simultaneously so happy and nervous to release one as I do right now. I feel like this is really the sort of thing I wanted to do - like this is the song I've been looking to record all my career - I just never knew it until these last few months. I know what a lot of people will say, that this is very different to anything I've done in the past, and I might even lose a few fans because of that. But if anyone thinks that this release marks me being not loyal to myself then they are most definitely wrong. I'd say this is more true to myself than anything I've ever done.
"The transition to this came from the work I've been doing behind the scenes in the last year, as well as my own personal listening. Obviously people know I've been working a lot with Bath Salts, and as much as they are quite new to the music industry and they came into my studio as basically novices, I learned so much from those guys. They opened my eyes to an all new world of music - a side of rock that was much softer and emotional without being acoustic, and I instantly fell in love with it. They are the inspiration behind what I accept is a very big change in my musical style compared to what people have seen in the past.
"I have to say though, I am in love with this song. I don't think I've ever had lyrics flow out of me so easily in the past without having a breakdown. Like, in the past I'd be writing about things that were all too real and personal to me, but this is the first time I've managed to just write a song. I always thought that would make it a little less special if I didn't have the personal touch in it, but it's turned out not to be the case. I think this will be what you see from me for quite a while now. I like the style, and I love the energy it brings to me personally, so I hope it gets a good reception from my fans as well.....so, yeah, here it is."
I found a love note you left me on the back of a cigarette pack
Another bittersweet memory that you could hold against a flame
In the end your heart was stained like your lungs, so black
I didn't ask you to stay, just never agreed to play this game
I watched for days as what we had would slowly burn to distant dreams
Still remember the taste on my lips and the smoke that filled my chest
Hollywood painted different, promised happy endings just lies from the screen
I'll live within these days gone by without future all cos you knew best
Light it up and walk my heart towards its final rest
Sing lines from songs that still lay heavy on my chest
Light it up and let my hand go when I start to drown
That spark was no illusion see the flames engulf my gown
You're on a lonely road, the open window blows the smoke inside
Haunted by the swirling ghosts born of yet another final drag
The highway gave you no escape, no chance to stop or place to hide
I guess I'll meet you someday when we're both zipped in a bag
Light it up and walk my heart towards its final rest
Sing lines from songs that still lay heavy on my chest
Light it up and let my hand go when I start to drown
That spark was no illusion see the flames engulf my gown
Grab another glass, I bet you'll never reach that glorious end
Empty cups will match your heart with every sunken measure
Just like I needed you, you've found something on which to depend
My chest is vacant, you promised you'd look after my one treasure
Light it up and walk my heart towards its final rest
Sing lines from songs that still lay heavy on my chest
Light it up and let my hand go when I start to drown
That spark was no illusion see the flames engulf my gown
I never asked you to leave me in the morning with my ring size
Only that you remember the lipstick I wore to prove I was grown
The door was always open, but you'd never look me in the eyes
A guilty sorry etched upon the bathroom mirror when you'd flown
Maybe I wore this black bra through pressure to impress
Maybe you'd appreciate what I wore underneath my dress
Maybe there was hope until you took a light and smoked it all away
Maybe these flames could be extinguished and we'd hold hands for one more day
I guess it's apt that I always loved to read, lost in books
Because this tryst was never more to you than cheap fiction
Fifty ways to break my heart and shades of painful friction
Tried to grab your attention but I lost out to her bigger hooks
Light it up and walk my heart towards its final rest
Sing lines from songs that still lay heavy on my chest
Light it up and let my hand go when I start to drown
That spark was no illusion see the flames engulf my gownSounds like
