Following remix work for Björk and Zola Jesus, productions for serpentwithfeet and her debut album on Tri-Angle, American experimental musician and producer Katie Gately moves to Houndstooth for her sophomore album ‘Loom’, dedicated to her mother, who passed away in 2018. “My mother’s voice is in this record, her picture’s in the sleevenotes. This record is for her,” says Katie.
As well as earthquake sounds, ‘Loom’ includes more samples, chosen for their associative power - peacocks screaming, pill bottles shaking, a coffin closing, wolves howling, a shovel digging, a paper shredder, stone grinding and heavily processed audio from her parents’ wedding.
Where her debut album ‘Color’ (2016) deployed fractured rhythms, fierce licks, bold samples and her signature paintbox pop hooks, ‘Loom’ reveals crepuscular textures. Her voice is more forward in the mix, often densely layered in choral laments above a coarse
foundation of hard and brittle sound design, the latter of which is rooted in her film school training.