Katy J Pearson: 'I feel like I’ve found my feet'
At rehearsals for her imminent tour, Katy J Pearson is bubbling with excitement over the reception for third album Someday, Now when The Yorkshire Post catches up with her.
The Gloucestershire-raised singer says she feels “like people think I’ve progressed as a songwriter and think I’ve found a very strong sonic sound that fits” after releasing two more Americana and folk-leaning albums, Return and Sound of the Morning.
“I feel like I’ve found my feet and people can also tell that,” the 28-year-old says of her poppier new direction, adding: “It’s always terrifying putting out bodies of work and Album Three always feels like weird psychological pressure universally, but now that it’s done I’m like, OK, cool, let’s get on to the fourth one now.”
Pop had been something that Pearson had purposefully shied away from for years after a negative experience when she was in the duo Ardyn with her brother Rob.
“I think it’s all a process,” she reflects. “I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a slow and steady career (as a solo artist) – a slow-burn in a good way – and I think it’s meant that I’ve got to this record at the right pace.
“I was so stubborn when I started KJP and I was so against making anything too commercial, I guess. I think I just got myself in such a pickle about it. I was younger then and very forthright, I’d been scalded by the industry and I thought I’m going to do indie band things. Now I’m a bit older.
“I think Sound of the Morning was definitely leaning back towards a kind of more pop place and as soon as I got onto this record, working with Bullion (aka producer Nathan Jenkins) I realised I was ready to go back to my roots. I’m a songwriter and that’s what I do mostly, I’ve never been striving for a particular genre, it’s whatever clothes fit the song, but now I feel the songs are more poppy so I can be more experimental with the sounds.”
She’s full of praise for the support of her record label, Heavenly, who have previously worked with the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Saint Etienne and Doves. “Labels like Heavenly are so essential for artists like me,” she says. “I’m not in a rush to get to this big place straight away. I’ve carved a career but I wouldn’t say that loads of people know who I am. People who like my music do, but it means I’ve had a chance to hibernate away and work out exactly what I’m trying to do and say without everyone sitting on me. I think it’s a shame for other artists who have blown up quick, they have real pressure to keep churning out amazing stuff whereas I’ve had the time to work out what I want and Heavenly are a label that can provide that for you.”
On Someday, Now she feels her lyrics are “more relateable”. She adds: “They’re more realised, they feel closer to home, they might have inklings of things that have happened to me but the narrative of the stories feel clearer. Normally I sing the melody and the lyrics at the same time and I can be quite lazy and stubborn when it comes to going back and changing lyrics, but this time Bullion really pushed me to get the best out of my lyric-writing.”
As a big fan of Kate Bush, Pearson says she has looked closely into a lot of her ways of creating. “When I listen to all her albums, it all feels so authentically her, and I think what I’ve learned from listening to her music and how I’ve used that to go into my own music-making is I think you can feel her personality and her world so in her music, and you can’t do that unless you let your barrier down to fully immerse yourself and let your music take part of you.
“The Fog and Sensual World I listened to a lot when making this record, they’re such crazy songs, it shows you what is possible with a song and a storyline.”
Katy J Pearson plays at Sheffield Foundry on November 30 and Leeds Irish Centre on December 4. www.facebook.com/katyjpearsonband