Description
“Said the starling” is the much-anticipated debut album from Melbourne’s Katankin, a singer-songwriter who has steadily been making her presence known in the indie music scene. Since the release of her self-produced debut EP “The quiet shimmer of the world” , she received a 2023 Music Victoria nomination for Best Folk Work, and appeared at several major music festival including the St Kilda Festival, and Maldon Folk Festival.
Work on a full album began early 2024, with Katankin again arranging and producing the work herself, but this time accompanied by a full band, including occasional strings and horns. The result is a powerful, eclectic and extremely well-crafted offering, marked by Katankin’s signature poeticism, razor-sharp lyrics and uniquely expressive vocal delivery. The songs by turns uplift and shatter; Katankin’s angelic voice tenderly caresses you one moment, before scathingly, blisteringly, slamming you down the next, in an impressive showcase of her range as both singer and songwriter.
The album title is taken from Laurence Sterne’s 18th century novel “A sentimental journey”, in which a starling beats its wings against the sides of its cage, struggling to be freed, crying “I can’t get out”. This scene has become an important literary motif for enslavement, and in Katankin’s case represents a long-overdue liberty and freedom from constraints on her creative and musical expression and output, whether self-imposed or external. The songs deal with highly personal and emotive subjects, with recurrent themes of fire, courage and renewal throughout.(
