Katy and her band will be bringing a rhythm-filled set with a slick, modern set-up showcasing her breath-taking new album across the country to capital cities and venues off the beaten track next month. The tour begins on Saturday, February 18th in Adelaide before heading out across seven states and includes an appearance at the Perth International Arts Festival 2017.
Armed with one of Australia’s most distinctive voices, this is a bold entrance into the current media landscape, Katy Steele’s debut album ‘Human’ delivers an eye-opening glimpse into her journey up until now.
As sole songwriter and co-producer, Katy Steele has crafted a unique record that is sonically adventurous and bold; nothing about this new direction is subtle or safe. Combining gospel-like melodies with fractured, glitch-ridden electro-pop production, Human marks a refreshing and timely presence within the pop music landscape.
“Sonically we’ve achieved something really adventurous. In today’s landscape it’s much easier to just place a sampled drum in the track. But we didn’t want things, especially the drums, to sound like anything else out there. We tried to focus very heavily on the vocal production. Kate Bush was a huge influence for me in terms of what she does vocally, not melodically, more so for the vocal production.”
‘Human’ is an album filled with colour and versatility. Showcasing a huge level of craftsmanship, it is immediately obvious the sheer amount of energy that Steele has put into this album. The songs have evolved from many different situations over the last few years.
“Some of the tunes were written in Perth on a clunky upright in my parent’s front room. Some were written in an underground studio in Dumbo, Brooklyn. This debut really is a snapshot of the last few years of my life.”
Katy currently resides in Melbourne but sights her time in the US as a huge inspiration and the catalyst for a lot of the source material. However, it wasn’t until she returned back to her hometown of Perth that the songs really started to take shape.
“Living in New York City presented the chance to see the world from a new perspective, to fulfil my desires, to feel inspired and challenged artistically. I found it quite dominating as there were a great deal of external pressures I had placed on myself for my solo work. I wanted things to be so different from Little Birdy that what I was creating in that chapter of my life didn’t even feel like me anymore. When I got back to Perth I started writing again the way I normally would totally unrestricted and free. So once I was comfortable enough to tap back into that place, songs like ‘Where’s The Laughter’ and ‘It Ain’t Me’ appeared. Those songs were written back in Perth in my parents’ underground studio, ‘the dungeon’. I basically had had enough of the pressure I had put on myself and wanted to just write from within again. Not pandering to any outside factors. Just do what I do. I guess I just got realistic about life again and found some positivity in all of the madness.’
The album was recorded in Perth at Rada Studios. “It’s a really homely looking studio equipped with every type of toy you could ever need. As soon as I walked in, I knew I was going to record there. Seeing a mellotron in the collection was a game changer for me, as it’s def one of my favourite instruments. There is also a collection of analog vintage synths. There were three or so different upright pianos. What attracted me to the studio in the first place was the huge live room.”
Katy stumbled across local Perth producer Matt Gio (Rudimental, Troy Sivan) after hearing about his studio through a few friends. After a few listening sessions and the two starting working together, the duo started working with a lot of hands-on recording techniques and things really started to evolve into something extraordinary.
“We started to experiment with making our own loops out of percussive layers like clicks, claps and things really started to change feel. We really wanted to have unique sounding drums that only sounded like us. It’s too easy these days to use samples. So after a few experiments we started creating entire loops from scratch out of unconventional techniques. We wanted to sound raw, real and human.”
From there, renowned mixer Eric J (Flume, Wafia, Chet Faker), jumped onboard to complete the record. His revered touch added a contemporary flavour and took the record up to another level.
“I felt I needed Eric J on board to mix for a few different reasons. I felt he was one of the only mixers who would understand where the record needed to sit in a contemporary setting. I thought he would get the electro side of things, yet with his history of working underneath Rick Rubin etc, he would also understand the classic historical flavour throughout the album”
Eric’s influence made a huge difference sonically, with the wildly colourful debut seemingly overflowing with hit after hit.
Katy Steele National Human Tour
18 February – ADELAIDE UNI BAR, ADELAIDE
22 February – CHEVRON GARDENS – PERTH INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
24 February – TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA
25 February – NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB, SYDNEY
26 February – 48 WATT STREET, NEWCASTLE
2 March – THE SPOTTED COW, TOOWOOMBA
3 March – THE FOUNDRY, BRISBANE
4 March – SOL BAR, MAROOCHYDOORE
9 March – KAROVA LOUNGE, BALLARAT
10 March – SOOKI LOUNGE, BELGRAVE
11 March – NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB, MELBOURNE
17 March – CLUB 54, LAUNCESTON
18 March – REPUBLIC BAR, HOBART
23 March – SETTLERS TAVERN, MARGARET RIVER
25 March – THE PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL, BUNBURY
www.katysteele.com
