Harkin - Harkin

Katie Harkin, photo by Tomm Roeschlein

Years as a working musician spent honing her craft, first in Sky Larkin and later as part of the Sleater-Kinney touring band, have led Katie Harkin to this: Her assured, well crafted and confident debut album, released on her own and partner Kate Leah Hewett's label, Hand Mirror. The Leeds girl done good for herself.

As well as the attention grabbing synth tinged surge of recent single 'Nothing the night can't change', with its alluring line 'what we did by the light of the fridge cannot be undone', we have new single 'Dial it in', a sold gold slice of driving guitar rock with an underlying message for our times: You can't just go through life on autopilot, it's there to be lived.

Fans of both Sky Larkin and Sleater-Kinney will find much to enjoy here, but Harkin is Katie Harkin putting her own signature on the world, and the sound is uniquely her. There's a real sense of space here, which might reflect the fact that part of the album was recorded in a cottage in the Peak District, the remainder on the road and in New York. That it is being released on 24th April as visitors are being strongly encouraged to stay away from the Peak District (infamously by police drone), New York is under lockdown and musicians around the world are unable to tour causes... pause for thought.

'Up to speed', another single, soars like a bird and has a kind of breezy indie rock charm that it's easy to love, while there is an eerie edge to 'Bristling' that complicates its angular melodic punk sound. The layered experimental sound of 'Red Virginia Creeper' and 'Sun Stay With Me' suggest new sonic landscapes coming over the horizon, with the jagged muscular guitar sound of 'Sun Stay With Me' being particularly welcome, coming across as it does like the sonic lovechild of Hatchie's 'Without a blush' and St Vincent era St Vincent.

The album closes with the pared down, slightly contemplative and claustrophobic 'Charm and tedium', which is perfect for life under lockdown.

While Harkin isn't a showy album, it's a well crafted set of songs that has it's immediate charms but which is also a bit of a grower, with each listen revealing previously hidden treasures. This is a record that will stand the test of time, and that you will be able to return to again and again.