Kat Edmonson
Kat Edmonson is back with her new album Way Down Love as releases her first record with a label.
We caught up with the singer/songwriter to chat about the new album, how it has been received and what lies ahead.
- You are about to release your new album Way Down Low so what can fans expect from this new collection of tracks?
It is a very… I don’t know how to answer that question as I don’t feel comfortable about my music in a descriptive way (laughs). It’s a minimalistic and very romantic album about deep love.
- That leads me into my next question as this album is very instrumental and there is no heavy production as it is all quite natural how conscious a decision was it going for that kind of sound?
It was but only because this is how I had been performing at that point and so it was very much a photograph of what I have been doing at that time.
We recorded live, which is a much different experience than coming over a long period of time and over-dubbing various tracks. It is really fun and is more akin to performing live on stage because you only have so much time to present what is being recorded; which is a bit nerve-wracking.
We recorded over two days and so we had a very limited amount of time. Each song we had two and at the most three takes and we would play them all the way through and then choose our favourite take of each; that was an exciting process in itself.
- I was wondering how much you enjoyed that as an artist as it is almost like performing live on stage as you say?
I love it, I don’t know if I could completely give that up. Even though I interstate on the next record overdubbing and more instruments and having a bit more production on the album I really can’t stray from playing live with the musicians.
I don’t sing very well to a track and it is almost necessary that I sing with the players playing.
- You also recorded at the Avatar Studios and The Capitol Studios - which a re rich with music history - so how did you find that?
Wow, it was just a dream come true. Capitol was amazing - I actually mixed my first album Take To The Sky there which I released on my own in the States.
Once I had been there it really was a goal to go back as often as I could; it really one of my favourite places to be because of all of the music history.
It is a beautiful building in itself and the energy there is very palpable and it feels like legends have been there.
And Avatar is a top of the mark facility. I just feel so privileged to be able to use such places, it really was an honour.
- Your debut album was self funded and this one has been funded using Kickstarter so how difficult has it been without the financial input of a label to get two albums up and running, recorded and released?
It is very difficult. Fortunately because I have such a supportive fan base it was perhaps less difficult that it might be for some.
I was able to raise $50,000 within a month - I would say effortlessly because it was very much a campaign to spread the word each day and encourage people to get on board with me but we they came through, and very willingly.
As difficult as it may have been it was actually very rewarding and it creating a strength in the relationship with my fan base.
- It does allow you to connect with your fans in a way that perhaps you haven’t before because they almost feel that they have had to the record. So how have you found the reaction from them?
Exactly. It has been really wonderful and it has only made them more supportive. And in turn I have learnt more about them; I have learnt what they like, what they care about, what they are interested and there are all things that are invaluable to me.
- There are still a couple of weeks to the album but have you been able to engage any early responses? And how has the album been received in the States?
Very well. It reached number one on the Billboard Heatseekers chart twice and with essential no machine from the start publicising the album.
In the first week of release it went to number on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. It was as good as I could have expected - it was wonderful.
- This album sees you make your song-writing debut so have you been writing for a while or is it pretty new to your? How did you find the whole experience?
I have been writing since I was a little girl - I think about eight or nine years old. I never had any music training or education really; it was just something that I did in the privacy of my room growing up. I didn’t really share it with many people.
I didn’t actually know if what I had was something legitimate - they seemed liked very real songs to me but I was nervous to share them. I didn’t actually know how to produce them.
They were there in my but because I didn’t play an instrument trying to convey that to a musician just seemed like an ocean to cross.
But once I gave it a try and learnt various ways of going about it and also leaned how to choose the chords myself the piano. It was a tedious process but it was very empowering and little by little I grew more courage to go ahead and released my own work.
- You are also having a hand in the production for the first time so how important was it to be involved in that side of making an album?
It is very important to me because upon writing a song I usually hear arrangements and instrumentation and it is hard to let those particular sounds go.
I see them through as best as I can not being an arranger and a player myself.
- Al Schmitt was also on board as producer and engineer so how did that collaboration come about?
He mixed my first record and we formed a very strong friendship. He was interested in working on the next record but he wanted to record it as well.
I was producing it myself along with my bass player and we welcomed any input from Al - which turned out to be quite a bit. It just very naturally came about that he was one of the producers.
- You are going to be playing at Bush Hall in July so how excited are you to get in front of a British crowd and introduce then to these tracks?
Really excited. I have come so far now in the United States and now I am jumping though to the UK and other parts of Europe and I am completely new again. But it is really fun and I can’t wait to see who I meet and I can’t wait to perform/
-How are you finding the response from UK crowds to your music - it does seem to be going down well?
I think so, yes. I haven’t had a lot of direct interaction but we did come and play a show at Old St Pancreas Church last month and that went very well, it was beautiful.
- So where did your love of music start and is this the career that you always envisioned for yourself?
It is. For me it was really a matter of time. Ten years ago I recall sitting my myself wondering how I would ever get here as I didn’t know anyone in music and I was just working a regular day job.
I had no idea of the ‘how’ but I knew what I wanted from a very young age; I think I knew that by about six years old. I remember a musical Singin’ In The Rain and looking at myself in the mirror afterwards and considering myself one of the people that I was watching on the screen - I just didn’t know how that was going to come about.
But I learnt music through old movies and movie scores and soundtracks - many of the songs that were written for the old movies actually what became what is known as The Great American Songbook.
But my passion has expanded well beyond that as I listen to oldies, country, classical and a lot of pop and rock as I got older.
- Finally what is next for you in the second half of this year?
I am just touring a lot and this is what I have to look forward to as I am going to a lot of new places that I have never been and a lot of faces that I have never seen before.
The third album is very much in the works - I don’t have an exact release date now - but I would say in about a year my focus will be shifting over there.