“horns, organ, guitar and Katie’s powerful vocals all blow into the faces of people who try to abuse those they perceive as weaker” –Glamglare
FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 16, 2020
SEATTLE (October 28, 2020) – Seattle singer-songwriter, Katie Kuffel, announces the release of the first single off her upcoming album on November 16. Exuding a dream-like trippiness, “Carillon” serves as a source of strength and resilience in trauma’s aftermath. Kuffel’s smokey vocals resolutely compliment layered horns, organ, and guitar to build forward momentum. It’s a reminder there’s no going back, only moving forward. “Carillon” is off the album, Alligator, due out early 2021.
The single was written following a violent attack on Kuffel while she was in college. Kuffel says, “I like to speak openly because violence against women is still so prevalent. So many people are stuck during Covid with their abusers, so many folks don’t know what resources are available to them, what laws are and aren’t on their side.
Set to three acts within the song, “Carillon” begins by submerging the listener into the anguish directly after trauma occurs. An acknowledgment of inner strength emerges in the second act, It concludes with a refusal of defeat. Kuffel says, “During the early days of recovering from my attack, I often had nightmares, and would suffer from sleep paralysis. This song is a mix of some of the trapped feelings I felt while dreaming, and me wishing I never experienced that event.” This can be heard in the line “un-ring the bell” that Kuffel repeats over and over. She says, “It’s me desiring to become stronger, it’s me telling myself that only I have the control over myself and my own reactions. That I won’t be undone.”
Kuffel expresses an empowering depth and self-awareness throughout her album. Topics on Alligator range from intergenerational trauma viewed through kid glasses, a song about how a volcano would experience time, seasonal depression, and about her own disability. No matter the scale of her theme, Katie finds the universal thread to captivate her listener, reminding us we’re all human, and to embrace the messiness inherent in being alive during this turbulent, modern era.
Alligator Track Listing
- 1999
- Carillon
- Love Language
- Reminders
- Honey
- Ships
- Passerine
- Veil of Isis
- Wintertide
- Mt. St. Helens
About Katie Kuffel
Kuffel has had a fair bit of classical training, but her real musical education occurred in the opportunity to sit in and play with a plethora of diverse musicians. She’d play the cello and sing with her dad’s group of friends (all drinking beer and playing bluegrass on the porch). She’d sit in and jam with a Gypsy Jazz group at the farmers market. While living in Japan she learned the basics of Koto music. Then there was the Peruvian doomgrass band she played with when she first moved back to Seattle. She accompanied speakers, and slam poets in live, improvised events.
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Praise For “Carillon”
“It’s a powerful singer songwriter song that’s fabulously arranged, her vocals are captivating, soulful and ooze emotion.” – Beehive Candy
