"Freedom" by Katherine Abbott

Out today is the brand new single from Katherine Abbott and its title is "Freedom".

When its predecessor "Wings on Fire" came out back in November, I rather lamented the relative rarity of her solo releases while rejoicing in their quality. Back then I provided context to the situation & such has been the quantity of WLDFLWRS activity calling on her time & talents, it's hardly surprising. Not only has their debut EP come out in the meantime (please see the review in the magazine) but they have been playing live including one very special gig in Halifax.

On Saturday 22^nd February there is another special gig in Luddington with a WLDFLWRS set being preceding by solo ones by Katherine, Jack, Wes & Jono: hopefully you'll get to hear "Freedom" in its live glory as I did when Katherine played at Izzie Derry's Christmas concert.

As I said before, when a writer is this much of a perfectionist & each moment within a song receives its own minute polish, songs only appear in public when their creator is themselves fully satisfied, so that factor cannot be underestimated either.

All Katherine's songs seem to be wrought of steel but then she swathes them in gossamer veils so your first impression rather conceals the profundity of the sentiments at its heart from immediate view: then with a jolt you realise how you've been seduced into a state of complacency.

At her very hypnotic best, this accentuates the sense of the song being an emotionally complex one which you need to engage with & apply to your own circumstances: you cannot, if you have any sensitivity just stand back & admire "Freedom" from a distance.

No doubt influenced by her Stateside sojourn & the Americana slant of WLDFLWRS, Katherine mesmerises us via her own soft finger-picking augmented & complemented by touches of subtle slide guitar courtesy of producer Joshua Woolf plus drums & piano credited to Dead Herring: all applied with the lightest of touches to enrich the song and not overpower its delicacy.

A series of meditations upon the subject of freedom & free will, it comes across as deeply personal (as I'm sure that it is: she's not the sort of artist to fake anything). These liberties require work & self-education and the song uses the idea of a journey towards the goal as the mechanism by which it might be attained. She wishes us to be under no illusion that freedom will be handed out to us easily nor that the road will be sunlit and smooth underfoot. The trials will help bring us to an earned conclusion.

To this end, it would seem that Katherine writes & sings as much (if not entirely to be honest) of an internal freedom of mind & self-discovery as she does of material, earthy freedoms. The buzzword "freedom" as chanted by libertarians of the conservative right has no connection with this song. It's probably beyond their comprehension.

"Freedom" is a song to immerse yourself in & once you emerge you might be a more complete version of yourself