With lyrics expressing her dismay at the overwhelming pressures of 21st century life over strident strings and military percussion, ‘A Happy Place’ was written by Katie and pop maestro Guy Chambers. The single is perfect evidence of the more mature Katie who is now, with the release of her fourth album ‘The House’, adding plenty of stylistic strings to her bow.
‘The House’ has garnered some of the finest notices of Katie Melua’s career. With her original demos having coaxed legendary producer William Orbit (Madonna, Blur) out of self-imposed retirement, the album sees Katie traverse styles with ease – taking in the balladry of the gorgeous ‘Red Balloons’ or the seductive desire of ‘I’d Love To Kill You’, yet at the same time finding room for the Weimar cabaret of ‘A Moment Of Madness’, the warped electro-rock of ‘God On The Drums, Devil On The Bass’, and the Bond-theme-gone-disco of first single ‘The Flood’ – described by Radio 2’s Janice Long and the Daily Telegraph as “the best thing she’s ever done.”
Aside from her stunning cover of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass classic ‘The One I Love Is Gone’, Katie wrote or co-wrote every single song on the album “Being in the studio with Mike [Batt] over the last seven years has been incredible. I’ve been very lucky to have written and recorded with someone who has a wealth of experience and was able to give me such undivided attention … I’ve had time … to experiment with who I am as a writer.” That experimentation rears its head on ‘A Happy Place’, which sees Katie push on from her familiar sound to establish herself as an intelligent pop chanteuse.
With ‘The House’ topping charts across Europe, including going straight in at NUMBER 1 on the Billboard pan-European Top 100 Albums Chart, Katie Melua is set for a busy summer of festival appearances and concerts across the continent. As well as headlining Thetford Forest and Chichester Festival in July Katie has an extensive UK tour due for the latter half of 2010.
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