Kait Warner wrote the single, Bowerbird, from her upcoming debut album, Rodeo Clown, after falling in love with her best friend of 10 years. As she descended into the confusing storm of new love, Kait became obsessed with passages from Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, a resonant masterwork on grief and love themed around the bowerbird. While in the throes of new love, she was experiencing the profound grief of letting go of the wounds from a former relationship in order to fully be present and experience this new love.
Rodeo Clown was recorded at Business District Recording in Johnson City, New York, a space bursting at the seams with a wild assortment of vintage gear and musical instrument curiosities—many of which were used during the sessions. Joining Kait in the studio is producer Hunter Davidsohn (Porches, Frankie Cosmos, Sheer Mag, and Bethlehem Steel), percussionist and co-arranger Spencer McKee, bassist and brass instrumentalist Daniel Thomas, violinist Raina Arnett, guitarist Ryan Sheehan, and drummer Elli Caterisano. Kait’s past releases include the singles “Over Again” and “Good Behavior.” In addition to her musical career, Kait is a theatre practitioner, and has a solo show, “Take it Away, Cheryl,” which fittingly takes place in a circus.
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the single, “Bowerbird,” a striking work of art pop that’s built upon a hypnotic piano motif. With lush vocal harmonies, the song builds rich textures and musical elements like atmospheric synths and strings. It’s a musically metaphorical gesture that poetically mirrors the song’s narrative inspiration. Here, there is an achingly beautiful, almost Shakespearian tragic quality to Kait’s literate lyrics. One standout passage is: In my marrow / Cut to bone / I get sad / Left alone / It’s not right / And it’s not fair / I take flight / I can’t compare / It’s a story / I’ve been told / More than this / It’s one I’ve sold.
Kait describes the inspiration and process behind the tune:
Bowerbird is about fresh grief and new love coexisting in a beautiful mess. I wrote it when I was falling in love with my best friend of ten years, while simultaneously grieving past relationships that had unraveled. Every happy moment had a blue shadow to it; I was afraid ultimately my grief and my past hurt would prevent me from fully giving and receiving love. So I collected each small sadness and showed them to my partner, trying to see if I would still be loveable through it all, like a bowerbird collecting blue objects to attract a mate.
I think it’s so important to recognize and release grief as it comes up – and it will come up, over and over. It’s a lifelong process. This song is that for me; it’s a release of grief, but also a container for it. I wanted a beautiful sonic space to hold it and allow for its complications and for new love and joy and heartbreak to coexist all in one song, the way they do in the body when life is too complicated to be just one thing.
Recording this song with my partner made me understand that I was in a new phase – not out of the woods of my grief but transformed by it and by creating something out of it. I hope it is equally transformative to listen to.
LISTEN:
The post SONG PREMIERE: Kait Warner’s “Bowerbird” Shimmers with Art Pop Textures appeared first on Glide Magazine.
