It’s been clear that over lockdown people were faced with themselves in a way that they hadn’t had to deal with in the past, contemplating their own mortality while still scrolling through their feeds on social media finding memes to clear up the numbness of the impending doom vibes. Within this period, everyone was caught off guard trying to navigate a duality that hadn’t been explored as deeply in their pasts and this is what, in a more poetic way, singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / activist KATHLEEN shows with the dual release of her new tracks “How Long Will This Last” and “Fever Dream.”
Inspired and written in the amidst of lockdown, these tracks show the modern pop visionary that KATHLEEN really is. On one hand, we have a tender and emotional piano ballad and on the other we find a boppy dark pop track. Although they’re both incredibly different, they certainly come from the same amazing mind of the LA-based artist. The catchy melodies, the intriguing details and the alluring sentiment of both of the songs are incomparable and somehow feel cut from the same cloth.
Co-produced with STINT (Jessie Ware, MØ) and Tim Anderson (Banks, Halsey), and her studio mate Tim Friesen, “Fever Dream” has a musical arrangement featuring cello and banjo with electronic enhancements that certainly bring everything up a notch. In KATHLEEN’s words, the track “is about the release of all the pent-up confusion, sadness, frustration, anxiety, and rage that I felt over lockdown”. This is certainly very fitting as the tension built by the instruments supporting lyrics such as “Nothing but video games and doom-scrolling, 10 thousand hours of porn.”
On the other side of the spectrum, “How Long Will This Last,” also co-produced by Tim Anderson and herself, puts the listener in a spot where they can certainly picture a scene in a movie or a show, which is kind of perfect when you find out that it was slightly influenced by Emily Dickinson’s story and poetry. The artist explains “It was part of the sort of monologue that ran in my head while living alone during lockdown.”
Both tracks come accompanied with amazing visuals which KATHLEEN curated herself with the help of directors Jackie Radinsky (“Feaver Dream”). Each very different from the other yet equally as appealing and amusing to watch.
Having released incredible pieces of music in the past few years, KATHLEEN has postioned herself as one of the most exciting song-writers and song-crafters in the modern pop world at the moment. With incredible collaborations already on her CV including Kesha, Dan Nigro and Baker Grace, it is no surprise this new material is this impressively beautiful. With loads more to come, hopefully, we’ll continue to enjoy KATHLEEN’s creative outpouring as she continues to show how gifted she really is.