Kate Owen Announces Debut Album + National Tour

Ōtautahi's Kate Owen is taking 2020 by storm, unleashing her debut album Not A Proper Girl this March and taking her delectable brand of electronic alt-folk on the road for a nationwide tour to spread the good news. Recorded by Lyttelton luminary Ben Edwards, Owen's first two singles 'Lullaby' and 'Lover' let slip the upbeat energy present in her debut, with a perfect, charming blend of jangle and synth. Take note of where to experience the songwriter live this autumn...

20/03/20: Kate Owen's album release tour is now postponed to later in 2020...

Kate Owen Album Release Tour

Saturday 14th March - Bark @ Dog With Two Tails, Dunedin [cancelled]
Saturday 21st March - Freida Margolis, Auckland [cancelled]
Friday 3rd April - Lyttelton Coffee Company, Christchurch [cancelled]
Saturday 18th April - The Third Eye, Wellington [cancelled]

Here's Owen's latest track 'Lover' in a deleted scene (we imagine) from Oscar-winning film Joker...

Kate Owen's debut album 'Not A Proper Girl' is out Friday March 13th via Spin Stir Records.

Press Release:

Today, Lyttelton musician Kate Owen announces her debut album ‘Not A Proper Girl’ will be released on March 13, 2020 via Owen’s own label Spin Stir Records. The album release will be accompanied by a tour of New Zealand’s main centres Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland from 14 March 2020.

A singer with a poetic, restrained intensity, Owen has been song-writing for twenty years and performing live for over a decade. ‘Not A Proper Girl’, recorded with Ben Edwards (The Sitting Room, Lyttelton), showcases Owen’s songs with rich textures including synth and strings, and strong rhythmic pulses from live kits and drums machines. The result is an album with a sound that has been likened to PJ Harvey and Julee Cruise (Twin Peaks), with a lyrical style echoing Jeff Buckley. Themes of isolation and grief run strong throughout the album. Song writing is how Kate has worked through life’s struggles; not feeling feminine enough as a young woman; losing her mother to mental illness and then suicide; never having children of her own; and in her own words her ‘disillusionment with romantic love as the modern holy grail of human connection’ .

Owen’s third single ‘The Void’ is being released 21 February the week following the album and tour announcement. ‘The Void’ is a bold drum driven track setting Jonty O’Connor (ZANE2000) loose to rage on the drum kit, while multi-layered guitars pedal and distort a creating steady driving cacophony. “The Void’ explores the inevitability of madness and the human desire to seek comfort in others during terrifying times.” Owen explains.

Owen is joined on her ‘Not A Proper Girl’ album release tour by her band Moses Robbins (guitar), Thomas Isbister (drums) and Kurt Preston (bass). ‘Not A Proper Girl’ is distributed by Southbound. All tracks will be available on Apple Music, Spotify and other major streaming platforms. Other artists featuring on the album include Jonty O’Connor (ZANE 2000, Shifting Sands, Emily Fairlight), Shane Bollingford, Tom Harris, Moses Robbins (House of Mountain, Jed Parsons), Anita Clark (Motte, Devilish Mary), Elmore Jones, Ben Edwards, and Mike Fordham. All tracks are written by Kate Owen.