Just Like Flying

review
Written By Jason Conway

The Pied Flycatcher EP

A review of the Pied Flycatcher EP by Kate Doubleday

Imagine Joanna Newsom channeling the spirit of Edward Thomas and you should have a reasonable idea of just how hypnotically lovely Kate Doubleday's Pied Flycatcher EP is. This is a devastatingly gentle but potent EP, full of melodies and lyrics that pluck at your spine and lift you delicately up.

The title track is a closely detailed look at the life of the Pied Flycatcher. Put like that, you'd be forgiven for thinking it might be slightly dull. It isn't - Kate Doubleday invests the story of the Flycatcher's migration with a powerful emotion pull. The shiver-inducing swoop of her voice infuses the words with such resonance that she even gets away with the use of 'thee' to rhyme with 'tree'. The song itself clearly longs to fly South for the winter. And it would, if it could only get past The Dunes.

The Dunes is a quietly hypnotic song. Bottles and flute blow the scent of the sea at you and the lyrics bed your feet in the sandy earth. Listen to it and you'll feel like you've come home to a cool house after a long day in the sun, drifting in, dreaming of summers past.

The third track, Freefalling, reminded me of flying dreams I'd had as a teenager, of the sense of freedom in the sky that were frustrated the moment you woke up. Here, though, you can revisit the dream whenever you want by just starting the CD again, as I have, many times now. This sensation has overridden any ability to analyse the song, other than to say that listening to it makes me very happy.

Kate Doubleday has been working towards this EP over two albums of bright, atmospheric and poetic folk- and jazz-inflected songs. Both of these have great moments of beauty, but nothing she's recorded before matches this - the Pied Flycatcher EP is simply exquisite.It is also extraordinarily immersive. I was drawn in by the delicate poetic sensibility Doubleday has for birdlife and landscape, but even more by the simple seeming and utterly compelling music which never allows the poetics to get in the way of it being able to fly.

If Kate Doubleday's next album is all as resonant, confident, beautiful and quietly powerful as the Pied Flycatcher EP, it will be magnificent.

Jason Conway

I'm a creative guru, visionary artist and eco poet based in Gloucestershire UK.

I love designing Squarespace websites for clients as well as providing a full range of graphic and website design services. My clients are passoinate entrepreneurs that are making a positive difference in the world.

Clients can hire me for brand and marketing strategy, content research, content writing and content management, social media training and management, blog and article writing, book design, book cover design, self publishing help, packaging design and sign design.

I'm a creative coach helping passionate and ethical business owners to create sustainable businesses geared for a healthy work life balance and helping to break through blocks and regain or maintain focus. I use creativity as a key problem solving tool and motivator.

As an artist is create inspirational works of art for private and corporate clients, from full size wall graphics and installations for offices, conference areas and receptions, to cafe's and restaurants to health and wellbeing centres. Any wall or space can be transformed with large scale art, which is a key motivator for staff and can reduce work related stress. I also accept private commissions for paintings, sketches and illustrations.

As a published poet I write about the joys of nature and the human devastation of it. I also write poems for brands and businesses to engage their audiences in new and more thought provoking ways.

https://www.thedaydreamacademy.com
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