If you could imagine the love affair between the lush, explosive earthiness of a tropical jungle and the vast heavens above it, perpetually animated by a rich choreography of cloud formations, as sound – you would arrive at the musical essence of Kate Birch. On the one hand, primal, earthbound, rooted, rustic, and teeming with life, chromatic! But then also, weightless, effervescent, delicate, free. Ascension – a force reaching for the 'beyond’.
A typical reading of the word "closure" implies a linear timeline and something coming to a full stop. Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer Kate Birch proposes a more nuanced interpretation on her latest album "Closure": that all things in life are interconnected and cyclical. It’s a dance, a spiral – the snake biting its own tail. The progression of seasons as nature sheds skin and renews herself, but it’s also our own unraveling and becoming. The movement from chaos to order, and back again.
Synthesizers, violin, drum machines, saxophone, and swirling drums – a vibrant ecosystem of sound objects. The voice, unleashed and free, immersed in various layers of emotions. It is a fusion of the playful spirit of the late '70s and early '80s CBGBs with modern indietronica, art pop, and classical, some New Age in the style of Alice Coltrane, and of course, a touch of jazz.
Kate Birch describes the album as her diary, because what else would you call such a personal work? "Stranger in My Body" deals with the dark side of the monthly cycle – the hormone storms that sometimes make you feel like a stranger to yourself. In "Welcome to Paradise", the artist experiences a spiritual metamorphosis. Toxic relationships, the anatomy of privilege, the dehumanizing effects of capitalism compared to human compassion, loneliness – there is much to discover in "Closure". And all of this is conveyed through this sensitive, personal lens.
It is not easy to be so vulnerable, especially when you know that this vulnerability will be visible to everyone. And that is exactly why this record, aside from being a rich, sonic pleasure, welcomes you with open arms every time.
