Lucy Sugden Smith
This Is The Kit
Streaming Bashed Out LP online – out next week
Produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner
Free download of album track ‘Misunderstanding’
Announces November UK tour + confirmed for Green Man and End of the Road festivals
“Get ready to hear a lot more from [Kate Stables]” Stereogum
“[‘Bashed Out’] is an understated but absorbing work” Uncut 8/10
“Obviously special” Q
“What strikes first – and stays throughout ‘Bashed Out’ – is the clarity, precision and vision of This Is The Kit” The Line of Best Fit
“A thing of subtle beauty… One of the most compelling voices in alt-folk” Drowned in Sound
“’Bashed Out’, is Stables fully realized, her talent refined in such a way that only the best — the very heart of her being — was pulled out from within” Consequence of Sound
“The assembled talent takes This Is The Kit’s traditional folk to the edge of the avant-garde” NME
On the eve of This Is The Kit’s third album Bashed Out – due April 6th via Brassland – stream the album in full via The Line of Best Fit.
Stream Bashed Out in full here.
You can also get a free download of album opener ‘Misunderstanding’ below
The beloved musical project of one Kate Stables, Bashed Out is produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. Other supporters include Elbow frontman Guy Garvey – who argued her last record should have been Mercury Prize nominated – This Is The Kit has also been hand-picked to support the likes of The National (at London’s Alexandra Palace no less), Sharon Van Etten, Iron & Wine, Jose Gonzales and Alexi Murdoch – a who’s who of iconic folk-inflected songwriters.
Growing up in a green leafy town that is Winchester, England, multi-instrumentalist Kate learned from an early age that great art takes time. “The place I grew up is defined as a Roman Saxon medieval city, they started building the Winchester Cathedral a thousand years ago and have been working on it ever since” she explains.
This Is The Kit have been in existence since the 00s, moving to Bristol to continue her musical education, before upping sticks and moving to Paris. It was here where her debut album Krulle Bol took shape, recorded and produced by PJ Harvey’s long-standing musical collaborator John Parish. Her second album, 2010’s Wriggle Out The Restless was made in France alongside members of Francois and the Atlas Mountains before final touches from TITK’s extended musical family were added in Bristol, Belgium and several points in between.
“The main reason for doing what I do is the exchange with other people—musical exchange yes, and other exchanges too. A hello and a handshake and the constant opportunity to learn from the knowledge and experience of others. As far as I can work out, the only thing worth doing in life is meeting, helping and swapping stories and experiences and resources with other people. Doing, making, learning.”
To some, Bashed Out might mean broken. For This is the Kit, though, it is a statement of intent, how art happens, through happenstance meetings and accidental collisions and pushing through.
Bashed Out features performances from Aaron, his brother Bryce Dessner, Benjamin Lanz(Beirut), Thomas Bartlett (Doveman, The Gloaming) and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen) alongside her regular cast of collaborators (Rozi Plain et al).
Known for their shapeshifting line-ups – morphing from a duo to a psychdelia-tinged electric five piece – This Is The Kit have confirmed a new UK tour for November as well as a string of festival dates including Green Man and End of the Road.
UK live dates
20-23rd August – Green Man Festival, Powys, Wales
4-6th September – End of the Road Festival, Dorset
24th November – The Haunt, Brighton
25th November – Scala, London
26th Novemeber – Leaf on Bold Street, Liverpool
27th November – The Greystones, Sheffield
28th November – The Lantern, Bristol
29th November – The Railway Inn, Winchester
www.thisisthekit.co.uk
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