Katie skilling: "Her Kind" written by James E Davey
Rehearsing new songs to a live audience is daunting at the best of times, but upstairs at Tommy Flynn's Katie Skilling is about to walk that tightrope to a modest crowd clearly bored by the two lackluster opening acts
Lithe, confident, and with eyes akin to an Egyptian cat, she saunters onto the stage immediately commanding more attention with one subtle flick of her wrist, than the rest of tonight's acts put together. Beating a red tambourine against a graspable waist, her voice flows between the acoustic guitar and piano that bookend her on the stage, captivating the room with an underlying sense of discovery. She doesn't just sound better than everyone else, she looks better too. Dressed in a sleeveless black mini-dress and high heels that she pounds against the floorboards, she's every inch the rock and roll siren; suffering, defiant, and seductive.
With 11 years of song writing under her belt, the 21-year-old chanteuse has developed a sincere and emotional range to her writing that allows her to be both English rose and vaudeville dame, with songs like 'Girl Like Me' and 'In a Violent Way'. She has previously worked with producer Stephen Lironi (Happy Monadys, Bon Jovi) and is preparing to enter the studio with Gary Bromham (Sheryl Crow, Bjork). The plan this time round is to capture a sound with more depth and variety to couple with Katie's increasing maturity as a song-writer.
"I'm getting more interested in sounds. Hopefully I can get more people involved than with the last E.P. The more ideas that come in the better. Gary is more of a 'listener', so we'll be trying to find the right sound for me. I also want to use more instruments; guitar was the instrument that was put in my hand, now I'd love to start discovering different ones. I'm curious to see what will happen."
Katie was born in Thurcaston; a quaint village in Leicestershire. An imaginative child, she could see the candlesticks in the rapeseed fields, hear the applause in the rain, see the nerve-ending in the bare tree at the end of her garden. Words fell from her surroundings. After being introduced to Kate Bush by a friend, she quickly developed a love of compassionate musicians such as Radiohead and Stevie Wonder. It was Bjork however, who inspired her to create and perform.
"She was a big challenge for me at first, but she trained my ear, and helped my singing so much. Sometimes you can't just naturally fall on the notes she falls on…you have to train your ears. She uses different scales to other singers. The more I listen to Bjork, the more I'm encouraged to improvise, and am not afraid to land where I want. I remember watching a documentary about her…she was in the studio recording, thrashing around in front of the mic…she has no 'microphone technique', and she uses that. That's inspiring. She works with absolutely everything.
Katie is a performer of immediacy and movement. Tonight she shimmers between changing emotions effortlessly like an impressionist painting. Defiant one moment, fragile the next. Her songs are never overwrought, and she's brave enough not to write in riddles.
Half way through the set she produces a melodica and performs new song 'Had You Fooled', part a-capella. She actually goes slightly wrong at one stage, but the fact that she's brave enough to perform a new song with an instrument she is still learning to play, is what impresses most. It's this song that rightfully earns the biggest applause of the night.
A harpsichord progression spreads out beneath the applause of the crowd, and then through it, as Katie goes into a cover of Bjork b-side 'Scary'. Reinterpreting a song by someone whose vocals and compositional style are so distinctive is a tough trick, but she manages to pull it off. It's a testament to how emotionally versatile her voice is. It also gives us a clue to how much she empathises with Bjork.
In future, Katie's natural androgyny should allow her to develop into a true visual artist - which is the mark of all great pop stars. Away from the stage, however - minus her high heels and kabuki eye make-up - she is surprisingly shy. She only opens up when talking about her music, and love of live performance.
"I'm always trying new things with outfits. I know that when I'm on stage I'm playing a role, and that can actually be wonderfully liberating. When I first started performing, I was just a timid young girl with a big voice. In many ways I still am, but I've grown so much as well. When I'm on stage now, dressed up and singing my songs, I feel strong enough to meet the audience's gaze head on. It really is like stepping into another character's skin. In that sense, I'm both at the heart of the action, and an observer. It's like in that Anne Sexton poem "Her Kind", where she presents herself as both 'I' and 'eye'. Both victim and witness to her own suffering. Only I'm witness to my own performance. Until very recently I suffered terribly with nerves, but now, on the good nights at least, when I go on stage I'm presenting a different side to my character."
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