US singer-songwriter Katrina Ford (of Celebration and Mt Royal) shares the exciting news of her debut full length LP, H.E.A.R.T.
H.E.A.R.T. – Heart Ember Abuse Resin Trend – is an album exploring boundaries. Boundaries of space and time. Boundaries, whether physical, emotional or mental boundaries. “Edges, the line, the start and the finish, There was no clearly defined beginning or ending to the making of this album,” Ford remembers. “My work as an artist is a run on sentence. I light many fires and some I carry out the door, so to speak. Some of these songs were written years ago and some were finished this year. They all have the mark of pandemic.”
Ford reaches newfound levels of vulnerability on H.E.A.R.T., evidenced by the album’s second single, ‘Cry Wolf.’ The track builds, lacing swelling synths through Ford’s ethereal vocals, showcasing her stunning songwriting. “‘Cry Wolf’ gives voice to things we feel we must keep quiet about to not be considered alarmist or too sensitive,” Ford says.
The synth-pop epic confronts disbelievers — in this case, the medical professionals unwilling to give credence to her health issues — with a fearlessness that could send walls tumbling. “The base emotion of fear and the feeling of pain is primal. The synth trills exponentially raise the feeling of threat over the arc of the song and fortitude of standing amidst real or imagined danger. For me it was the internalized battle of chronic pain, with endometriosis and how it makes me feel like an animal. After years of drugs and treatments, even having body parts removed, there was still no cure.
While H.E.A.R.T. was inspired by musical therapy for shadow work, Ford uncovers rays of hope in the most unlikely places. “When locked in and locked down along with the whole world, I became fascinated with portals, windows and thresholds. Always wistfully looking out, seeing beauty in the wind rustling the trees and the clouds clocking despite the unfolding global tragedies. In the physical world there was a heightened awareness of entry and exits,” Ford remembers. “Contrastingly my inner world became more smeared. The thin veils of meditation, astral travel and dreams mixed with waking life. I’d be working on a song one night and later that week I’d finish writing a melody in an out of body journey or in my sleep.”
This album is a full-bodied expression of Katrina Ford’s resilience, tenderness, and capacity for magic. Her debut full length LP, H.E.A.R.T., is due November 1.
H.E.A.R.T:
- Dundalk Dungeon
- Cry Wolf
- Ready Or Not
- Tinder Nest
- No Canyon
- World On A Wire
- Killing It
- Horses
- Eagle And Dove
- Adonai