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CMU Approved
Approved: Harkin
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 14 April 2020
A prolific session music and composer, Katie Harkin has performed with Dua Lipa, Sleater-Kinney, Wild Beasts, Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett and more. Not to mention recording with Sarah Silverman and Waxahatchee, as well as composing music for Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Marten and stand-up comedian Josie Long. In amongst that busy schedule, she’s also found time to record her own debut album that is set for release later this month.
The latest single from it is ‘Dial It In’, which is “a song about valuing intuition over entitlement”, she explains. “It’s a track that I started writing in my best friend Ashley Connor’s New York apartment. I had planned to visit her but she got a job working on a film out of state, so instead I inhabited her life for a week. I’d aimed to wander NY in a romantic solo montage, but a particularly frigid storm hit and I was stuck inside for the duration of my visit. Which turned out to be the push I need to start writing this album”.
The track was recorded with Wye Oak’s Jenn Wassner and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa. Harkin goes on: “I had played live with Jenn Wasner on tour, opening for her Flock Of Dimes project. We got in the studio with Stella. It was the first time they’d met and by the end of the day they were finishing each other’s jokes. The basic live track we ended up using was the first take. All pretty fitting given the inspiration of the song”.
‘Dial It In’ follows previous singles ‘Up To Speed’ and ‘Nothing The Night Can’t Change’, all three of which show off an impressive songwriting talent. The album that they are taken from, ‘Harkin’, is set for release on her own label Hand Mirror on 24 Apr.
Listen to ‘Dial It In’ here:
