Taken from their new album Off Off On, out on October 23, 2020 on Rough Trade Records, there is certainly no shortage of food for thought on the new single ‘Was Magician‘ from This is the Kit. It’s the late Ursula Le Guin that This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables looks to for inspiration. Ursula Le Guin, one of the literary greats of the 20th century, is, to my mind, a hugely underestimated author, her books touched on race and gender, violence and abuse of power, slavery, nationalism..she was fearless and ahead of her time. Amongst these large looming backdrops to her novels are unique characters – children with powers, such as Gavir (Powers – 2007), a young slave with the power of precognition. With such powers comes responsibility and growing expectations of others. It’s no surprise that Stables when meditation on the gifts and powers that people have, and what happens when they are underestimated makes a reference to Greta Thunberg when talking about the song, a 17-year-old with unprecedented expectations of others on her shoulders…
This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables on ‘Was Magician’:
“Often it’s children who have underestimated powers. They have an understanding and wisdom about things that we think beyond their abilities, they are often leaps and bounds ahead of the ‘adults’. People like Greta Thunberg – the young people who we have borrowed the earth from and who we have to give it back to, and hope that they will take better care of it than we have.”
The video for ‘Was Magician’, the third single to be released from the upcoming album, was recorded and filmed by Lyon Sound and Vision at L’Epicerie Morderne in France and remotely directed from NYC by Marisa Gesualdi.
Was Magician is also our Song of the Day.
Pre-order the album here: https://thisisthekit.ffm.to/offoffon
This is the Kit 2020 dates
10th Oct – Ego FM Festival @ Wagenhallen, Stuttgart, DE
12th Dec – Naked Song Festival, Eindhoven, NL
2021 UK dates
13 Mar – The Railway Inn, Winchester Matinee Show
13 Mar – The Railway Inn, Winchester Evening Show
14 Mar – New Kind of Neighbourhood, This is the Kit & Friends show, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
16 Mar – Lancaster Library, Lancaster
17 Mar – Junction, Cambridge
18 Mar – De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill
19 Mar – Tramshed, Cardiff
20 Mar – The Citadel, York
21 Mar – The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
23 Mar – The Cluny, Newcastle
24 Mar – RNCM Concert Hall, Manchester
25 Mar – Button Factory, Dublin, IE
26 Mar – Live Rooms, Chester
27 Mar – Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham
28 Mar – Arts Centre, Norwich
29 Mar – Saint Laurence Church, Reading
01 Apr – Royal Albert Hall, London
2021 EU Dates
Thu 15-Apr FR Lyon L’Epicerie Moderne (Kids Show)
Thu 15-Apr FR Lyon, L’Epicerie Moderne (Evening Show)
Fri 16-Apr CH Zurich Bogen
Sat 17-Apr FR Annecy Le Brise Glace
Sun 18-Apr CH Sion Port Franc
Tue 20-Apr FR Paris La Maroquinerie
Wed 21-Apr FR Rennes Jardin Moderne
Thu 22-Apr FR Bordeaux Le Rocher de Palmer
Sat 24-Apr FR Amiens La Lune Des Pirates
Sun 25-Apr NL Groningen Der AA Theater
Tue 27-Apr DK Aarhus Train
Wed 28-Apr DK Copenhagen Hotel Cecil
Thu 29-Apr DE Hamburg Nochtspeicher
Fri 30-Apr DE Berlin Silent Green
Sun 02-May DE Stuttgart Kulturquartier
Mon 03-May NL Amsterdam Paradiso
Tue 04-May BE Brussels, Nuits Botanique @ Botanique
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Website http://thisisthekit.co.uk/