Should music academics ever require evidence as to how a singer-songwriter/musician matures and develops over a short period of time, then there could be no better artist to use as a case study than Katie Spencer.
Leaving aside an impressive and increasingly formidable catalogue of live work, in respect of her recorded output alone, the journey, from the release of a highly praised debut album, Weather Beaten in 2019, followed by 2022’s The Edge of the Land, which reached Number 14 in the Official Folk Charts, to What Love Is, her third and latest stunning release, provides more than ample material to satisfy any of those abovementioned scholars.
Katie’s musical history has been well-documented, raised by music- loving parents in rural East Yorkshire, taking up the guitar at 16 years of age, discovering late-sixties, early-seventies folk-revival artists such as Michael Chapman, Sandy Denny, Roy Harper, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell, she has made no secret of the influence of John Martyn, in particular, on her work. The landscape of her home, located north of the Humber, has also been a source of inspiration, with its flatlands, open skies, and confluence of rivers reflected in the feeling of space, openness, and free-flowing movement in her music.
What Love Is, an album of ten new tracks, sees Katie pushing boundaries even further as she scopes into deeper, more intimate, spaces, a reaffirmation of a comment made earlier in her career that all of her songs are written from a personal perspective, and inviting the listener to engage with what is an artistically ambitious, and ultimately highly engaging, album, that boldly and confidently “celebrates, yearns for and sometimes despairs at love in its many different forms.”
Produced by Matt Ingram, in addition to Katie’s own guitars and vocals, the release benefits greatly from the contributions of Max Clilverd on pedal steel guitar, Tom Mason’s double bass and the clarinet playing of Giacomo Smith, with Matt also providing drums and synth. Throughout the album, their playing is measured, with detailed arrangements that both serve to enhance rather than overshadow, and also contribute to Katie’s success in ensuring that a range and variety of atmospheres, dynamics, timbres, and emotional peaks and troughs pervade the release.
The theme of love is immediately explored in the opening, title track, What Love Is, a song that emphasises the value of human togetherness. As Katie explains on one of her social media posts, “What Love Is was the final song to be woven into this album tapestry of love, grief and humanity; it draws on the inspirations explored in the nine other songs and asks the question – when will we know what love is? Love has been a constant in art, music and literature across time and means many different things to everyone in this world. I wanted to take my chance to explore that, within the context of this new album.“ Musically, her exquisite guitar playing and alluring vocals are underscored by subtle pedal steel, and with lyrics including the lines “when will we know what love is, are you going to wait and see with me”, would it be too much of a flight of fancy to suggest a strong link to Tell me what is true love, a track on Bert Jansch’s 1971 Rosemary Lane L.P., with its “Tell me what is true love, Tell me how shall I know.”?
The lead single from the album, Come Back And Find Me, follows. With its double-tracked vocals, meticulous guitar work and classy clarinet, the song is a profound exploration of the album’s theme outlined above. As her warm, distinctive, deep vibrato intones
“i am drowning…
i am grieving…
come back and find me”
There is an obvious John Martyn influence. Created at a time of grief, Katie elucidates, “Come Back and Find Me is a song written about this huge longing for wholeness that many of us share. It is a plea for pause and softness, in a world that is becoming increasingly louder. reassurance and sometimes finding it… I wanted this particular song to be a mirror for human nature, and not to become an individualistic self-portrait and I hope I have achieved that.”
Lyrically, the gentle Forget Me Not invites interpretation, whilst the narrative of Home appears to be more literal,
“when i’m travelling and i’m on my own
i think of you and i’m not alone”
reflecting the emotional challenges facing a touring musician and the inevitable homesickness felt after extended periods on the road. This song is a more stripped-back, sparse affair, featuring only vocals and gently picked guitar, which the sleeve notes helpfully inform us is in DADGAD tuning, played on the 3rd capo.
An instrumental track, Back To The Brightness Above, follows and showcases what an accomplished guitarist Katie is. Playing “Fay”, a custom-built signature guitar, especially crafted for her by sought-after luthier Tom Sands, the song’s title is explained by the knowledge that Fay was constructed using Ancient Sitka (Dark Forest Cypress) paired with 5 300-year-old, (as carbon-dated), Fenland Black Bog Oak.
Stranger is a gorgeously atmospheric song, greatly enhanced by the understated pedal steel, and with lyrics such as
“and like a sleeping fire
my heart still burns for you“
The quality of songwriting and playing here is reminiscent of early Mary Chapin Carpenter at her very best.
The production treatment given to Katie’s vocals on It Was Then That I Knew Love, creates a celestial atmosphere, which is once more strengthened by Giacomo’s subtle clarinet. Again, delving into the personal, the song is a celebration of love and the bonds that can grow, evolve, and be nurtured, whether connected through blood or not. “Although I have written many songs on the subject of adoption before, this one is perhaps the most lyrically-direct to-date.”
The second single taken from the album, Cold Stone, epitomises the development point that Katie has now reached in her career. “The song is about reconnecting with our original selves and reaching for peace through the natural world. It is a joy to play.” Mindful of her ceaseless fascination with the versatility of the guitar as an instrument, this beguiling and ethereal song captures the vast atmospheric and dynamic scope of the instrument. It is a clear celebration of her early formative influences. In much the same way that John Martyn experimented with moving away from traditional folk to more progressive, jazzy, and free-form styles, this track also defines Katie’s success in extending musical boundaries.
The album’s penultimate track, Goodbye, with its opening pastoral guitar figures, is lyrically intriguing, with the option that the words could be taken either in a literal sense or equally as a metaphor, with the goodbye referring to moving on to the next chapter in her (musical) life.
“the sweetness of possibility”
The album finishes strongly with Carry It All, another soothing, hypnotic, dream-like soundscape with the permeating love theme again to the fore on a track that once more evidences an artist skilled in her creative craft.
Various references, or touchstones, have been outlined above, but with each subsequent listen to this album, more spring to mind. That is not to suggest that Katie’s work is merely derivative; indeed, the opposite. Thus, Katie’s authenticity brings to mind Anne Briggs, while her intimacy, introspection, emotional honesty, and baring of the soul suggest, and this is meant as a compliment, Nick Cave.
Regardless, What Love Is could well be a breakthrough album for Katie. It is a mature, confident and eminently pleasurable release that confirms her status as a key contemporary artist deserving of the broadest exposure and audience.
What Love Is (October 3rd, 2025) Lightship Records
Bandcamp: https://katiespencerofficial.bandcamp.com
For details of Katie’s upcoming tour dates, visit: https://www.katiespencer.net/tour