Katie Kim: "People describe my music as dark all the time – but I don’t really describe it as that myself"

For well over a decade, the name Katie Kim has continued to crop up in conversations about Ireland’s most fiercely original and unrepentantly boundary-pushing artists – with fervent praise from the likes of The Waterboys’ Mike Scott, Lankum’s Radie Peat, Maija Sofia and Junior Brother safely securing her status on these shores as 'your favourite musician's favourite musician.'

Pre-pandemic, however, the Waterford-raised, Dublin-based artist found herself caught up in the midst of a time she’s described as “unforgiving and vengeful” – with “the feeling that things were very stagnant” paired with a longing to “make a change” in her life.

It was during this period that she recorded her powerful new album, Hour Of The Ox. Released on Friday, the LP follows 2016’s Salt, which was nominated for the Choice Music Prize, as well as her 29-minute project Charles / VV11, released in 2020.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” she reflects, with a slightly battle-weary laugh. “This is the sixth album, but there’s been other little bits in between. So there was a feeling that things were a bit stagnant, or stale around me. It was just a bit of a shit time.”

Those feelings were, understandably, tied up in frustrations with the music industry.

“I can’t just blame the Irish music scene, because musicians around the world find it difficult to make money from this,” she reasons. “It’s not even about making loads of money. It’s just being able to sustain yourself and pay your rent. That’s the main goal for most people I know. I have to work as well. I can’t just do this solely.”

Speaking to Hot Press back in 2019, Radie Peat – who contributes vocals and bayan to Hour Of The Ox – described Katie as “one of the gems of Ireland.”

“I’ll never understand why she isn’t lauded internationally,” Radie added. “Maybe I just don’t understand the music industry…”

It’s a sentiment that’s been echoed by many other artists.

“It’s hard to talk about this without sounding like a dickhead,” Katie laughs, “but a lot of people do come to the gigs, saying, ‘Why are you still in Ireland? You should be going around touring, and doing all these things!’ And I’m kind of like, ‘I don’t know!’ It just never worked out.

“So there were frustrations with that, of course,” she continues. “There’s days when you’d be a little dishevelled from trying to get your music out there. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean I’m ever really going to stop – because it means too much to me, to keep going with it. It’s a real therapy.”

Katie Kim. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Following the recording of Hour Of The Ox, Katie made a break for New York – an adventure that the pandemic, unfortunately, brought to a premature end.

“The whole trip to New York was probably a big grab to escape,” Katie tells me. “To just change the scenery for a while. It was a big deal to move. I did the biggest life clear-out you can imagine – I sold all my gear, and I had given up the home I was living in for 10 years. And it was a hard slog to get that visa. I eventually got it, but it was a two-year one and I got six months out of it before I had to come back because of the pandemic. Because I couldn’t have gotten the unemployment or anything over there at the time.”

Soon after her return to Ireland, the work of mixing Hour Of The Ox began, alongside her long-time collaborator, John “Spud” Murphy – an Irish producer currently garnering international acclaim, following his work with black midi, caroline, Lankum and Ye Vagabonds.

“Myself and Spud have known each other nearly 20 years now,” Katie recalls. “He was in Katie Kim to begin with, years ago. We played live a lot, and then we all moved to Dublin together. He’s always been really talented. It’s only now that he’s getting his deserved praise. They’re all starting – finally! – to come in, and he’s doing great work. We’re best mates, so it’s a really nice, comfortable working relationship.”

Although Katie and Spud share a mutual penchant for big, expansive soundscapes and heavy drones, the bones of the songs on Hour Of The Ox are often surprisingly fragile.

“People describe my music as dark all the time – but I don’t really describe it as that myself,” she points out. “There are elements in there this time that are bigger, like live strings, and lots of layering and synthesisers. And lots of use of bass tones and drones. But I like to think that myself and Spud get a balance between dark and light – so it’s not an album full of darkness.”

That being said, she’ll admit the video for the album’s first single, ‘Mona’, does delve into some gloriously dark and slightly disturbing territory, complete with creepy guinea pigs and copious amounts of slime.

“It just felt like a visually slimy song,” she grins. “I’m really not a dark, terrifying person in real life – but I’m really drawn to that aesthetic. I’m a big fan of B-movies, and psychological movies that really get into you. Also, I knew this guy who had loads of guinea pigs.

“I just thought, guinea pigs are very cute, but they can also be extremely creepy if you focus on their mouths and nails!” she laughs. “I was looking at them one day, and was like, ‘They’re going to be perfect for the slime video…’

“It’s more visually striking than trying to make a run-of-the-mill video – I didn’t want to dance around a field or something,” she adds. “I wanted to try something different. Though I’m sure there’s great field-dancing videos as well!”

Movies, soundtracks, visual art forms and books are some of Katie’s most prominent influences – though there’s also plenty of contemporary Irish artists whose work she’s admiring at the moment.

“Elaine Howley is after bringing out her new record – I really love what she does,” she enthuses. “Also Hilary Woods and Maria Somerville. And I know I work with Radie Peat, so I could be biased, but her voice really inspires me. There’s loads of deadly Irish music at the moment.”

And while Hour Of The Ox is set to cement Katie Kim’s position among those aforementioned names as one of the country’s most profound talents, she tells me it just might be her last release under her current moniker.

“The name was given to me so long ago, when I used to be in this band called Dae Kim,” she recalls. “It’s been with me for so long, and, in my head, it has really weird connotations to it now. It would be nice to maybe try something else under a different name.

“Psychologically, it might push me a little bit outside the box. I definitely have my safe spaces when I’m writing – and now I’m trying to stop myself when I go there, and try something different. Putting something out under a different name might help me do that.”

• Hour Of The Ox is out now.