It’s been two years since This Is The Kit‘s last studio album, Careful of Your Keepers, but it never seems too long before another track with Kate Stables‘ name attached to it sneaks out.
“I don’t know if it’s much to the chagrin of my managers or not, but the other day, they said, ‘I think you might have worked with nearly every friend you have!'” laughs Stables, whose list of previous collaborators ranges from Gruff Rhys, Anaïs Mitchell, Rachael Dadd and Rozi Plan, to the EU-based Cabane, Sages comme des sauvages, H-Burns and Mina Tindle.
“It’s not true. There’s hundreds, thousands, and I haven’t worked them at all.
“But this past year, I’ve been doing a lot of collaborations and singing on people’s songs and co-writing and stuff. And a good half of them, at least, have been French projects. And that feels really nice,” says the alt-folk songwriter, who swapped the West of England for Paris 20 years ago.
“There’s loads of really great stuff happening in France, but it doesn’t get a look-in in other countries, I feel. It’s hard when music isn’t in English, people are quite closed minded about it, which is a shame.”
Among Kate’s recent collaborations has been a team-up with Brits Public Service Broadcasting (guesting on The South Atlantic from The Light Flight, and its remix counterpart, Night Flight), but also guest spots with French artists such as FYRS, Hannah Miette, and Photons.
“It’s nice to work with people you know, especially if they’re in Paris. Often, collaborations can be a place where you get a bit braver and try things outside of what you usually do. I quite like that.
“And it’s nice when it’s something outside of your usual palette of stuff. I’ve actually been chatting to and sharing some musical ideas with a few people that do more electronic stuff recently, and I do like it.
“I don’t know if it’s dance music – I’m not very good at genres – but it’s really exciting and liberating to try different areas, because I make the music I make, but I also love loads of other types of music – which is obvious to say, but true.”
Alongside the collabs, Kate’s also been writing for what will be her seventh This Is The Kit studio album.
“Trying to write,” she corrects, before explaining that there have been various “little peaks and troughs” since she started the process some months ago.
“You have what feels a successful day, and you think, ‘Oh great! This is coming along, progress is happening!’ And then, the next day, you listen to it and you’re like ‘No! This is all unusable!’ And then you’re back to zero, and then you have a month of just feeling like nothing is happening. And then you have a little stock-check and you’re like, ‘Oh! Actually, I’ve got a few songs here …’ and I didn’t know, I didn’t see it happen.”
In between prep for the new record, This Is Kit play a few selected live UK dates, including Birmingham’s Moseley Folk and Arts Festival alongside Father John Misty, The Waterboys, BC Camplight, Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds, Brìghde Chaimbeul and Muireann Bradley. Kate then heads to the US to record with Grammy-winning New York percussion ensemble Sō Percussion before going out on tour with Lail Arad and Jesca Hoop for The Songs Of Joni Mitchell.
A fan since childhood (thanks to her father), Joni’s vast catalogue has left a lasting impression on the songwriter, with her landmark 1971 opus, Blue, a personal favourite.
“I will never find it not moving – it’s just relentlessly moving and meaningful,” says Kate, although her current obsession is the title track of Joni’s last studio collection, 2007’s remarkable Shine.
“I’ve been learning it for the gigs … and its just an amazing piece of writing, just mind boggling. Really! It’s such a powerful bit of writing. And she’s just the top toppest quality in everything she does. It’s really amazing, she’s so bad-ass! Bold! Punk!”
A true original, with a staggering talent, anyone setting out to mimic Joni is going to face some challenges…
“Exactly! If you’re going to try and sing the songs like her, you can’t because you’re just going to fail. But the idea for this project is that we just play them our way and we share that with people. But … yeah, it’s hard. I have to practise every day and I don’t feel like I’ve mastered them yet. Plus everything’s in different tunings so it takes ages – every time you do a different song, it’s like 20 minutes of prep,” she laughs.
“So, it’s a lot, but I do feel like it’s good for my brain to try learn all these lyrics and all these different tunings and ways to play stuff.”
As soon as the Joni salute wraps up, Kate goes back on the road for dates with Hannah Miette, and then the New Year arrives – though how that will pan out for Kate, she’s not sure. Yet.
“Once we hit 2026 I feel like anything could happen …”
Moseley Folk and Arts Festival runs from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 August 2025, in Birmingham. Guests include The Waterboys, This Is The Kit, Father John Misty, BC Camplight, Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds, Yoshika Colwell, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Cerys Hafana, DUG, Fisherman’s Friends and Grace Petrie. For more details, see: moseleyfolk.co.uk
plus:
The Songs of Joni Mitchell Tour
Tickets: https://gigst.rs/SOJM2025