Last year, I saw Katie Spencer performing at Purbeck Valley Folk Festival last year, and was struck by how passionate she was for the East Yorkshire landscape, which has influenced her work. Her music is very visual, and her ability to project that through her music is done so with remarkable clarity. As touched on in our review of her 2019 debut album, Weather Beaten, she paints with subtleties and nuances alongside the gentler shadings of her voice…her ‘word-pictures’ conceal deeper layers of thought-provoking commentary.
For her second album, The Edge of the Land, set for release on 6th May via Lightship Records, she taps further into her homeland’s landscape and history as noted in the accompanying press:
Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull, Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. Industry still shapes the city here. The people, as with the land, are moulded by tides and stark horizons. Stand in the same place for long enough, and you can watch the sun rise over the North Sea and then sink into crop fields, glowing auburn in late-summer sun. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through Katie Spencer’s anticipated second album, The Edge of the Land.
“I have always been drawn to explore our relationship with the natural world within my writing.” Katie says. “The landscapes that I grew up in still continue to inform my music in a big way, and I often use this inspiration as a vehicle to expose other stories and emotions within my songwriting.”
Last year, she revealed her love for John Martyn’s music, a passion that runs in parallel to her attraction towards the warmth and idealism of the early 70’s folk and songwriter movements.
“I can remember watching a documentary that featured people like Vashti Bunyan, Bridget St John and Martin Carthy. It was also when I first heard John Martyn, which was a huge moment for me. I dived into this whole new musical world which continues to inspire me every day.”
Her covers EP Hurt In Your Heart (reviewed here) went the extra mile in celebrating Martyn’s legacy by engaging two of his long time band members, bassist Alan Thompson and keyboard player Spencer Cozens. For her new album, which was recorded live in the studio and captured in just two days, she is joined by Tom Mason on double bass, with additional percussion and piano provided by Arran Ahmun and Spencer Cozens, musicians who developed their craft in the John Martyn band.
We have the pleasure of sharing the video for the title track and her first album single. The video was filmed by Hinterland Creative (Luke Hallett and Stewart Baxter) at Spurn Point, East Yorkshire. Katie shared the following:
“This song was initially a commission from BBC Introducing, in collaboration with Freedom Festival in Hull. I was asked to write a piece of music enthused with the city’s old maritime connections. For years, I have been fascinated by our relationship with the land and this felt like the perfect opportunity to explore that theme through music. Our essential and natural affinity with our immediate environment should not be understated or disregarded.
“I think that living by the edge of the land, and witnessing the tidal power of the North Sea with the constant movement of the Humber, not only moulds our dramatic landscape, but I also believe that it continues to shape the people who live there too. This is what I explore in The Edge of the Land.”
There is a poetic grace and depth to Katie’s music. While her affinity to her homeland is apparent, it’s the intricate level of detail and carefully curated observations that give her songs a life all of their own, something also strongly reflected in the beautiful, sympathetic accompaniment throughout.
Katie says, “In the most recent years, I have focussed on finding my honest voice – asking myself what this phrase actually means to me – and on The Edge of the Land I think this comes to the fore.” We couldn’t agree more.
rolls and rolls of barbed wire waves
years and years of industry fades
attack a shoreline, where a shipwreck once lay
at the edge of the land
decades of daily strife
fisherman’s pride and head-scarved wives
make for inspiring lives, for the city’s children
at the edge of the land…
The single is out on 18th February 2022.
Pre-Order The Edge of the Land (out 6th May) via Bandcamp (Digital/CD/Vinyl): https://katiespencerofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-edge-of-the-land
For details of Katie’s upcoming tour dates visit: https://www.katiespencer.net/tour