Sarah King describes her sound as Gothic Americana, and ‘When It All Goes Down‘ certainly has darker overtones which are mixed with a wild, unbridled attitude drawing on influences such as classic rock ‘n’ roll, Southern soul, true country, and a primal folk-blues. The words are a declaration of empowerment for King, as she explains: “This was inspired by doctors who don’t listen to women, but really, it can be applied to any situation where we feel we’re being ignored or given the brush-off for any number of reasons. I try to stand up for myself in situations like this, and I’m not always the best, so I put it into a song to remind myself.”
New England-born King now resides in a log cabin in the Green Mountains of Vermont, far enough away from others to be outside Cell Phone coverage. Having played in a rock band for some years Sarah King found herself looking for a new direction driven by an evolving passion for front porch folk and traditional blues, hard times music as real and true now as it was nearly a century ago. The hard times were real, as she explains “All of a sudden, my life began to imitate art, my dog died and my first husband died and my mom died. Just like that. That’s a lot. But our society doesn’t really teach us anything about grief and how to manage it. So I was like, Well, I am just going to pretend that I’m not grieving. I’m just not going to talk about it. And I’m not going to play music or write music because that would mean I have to get in my feelings.” Fortunately King eventually sought help through group therapy and grief counselling, personal work that allowed her to process the pain and trauma brewing inside: “I was able to sit with my feelings instead of running away from them. Music became a safe space for me to deal with all of those feelings. It was okay for me to write songs that were darker and more introspective. I started to dig deeper into even more painful topics, things that maybe had not necessarily happened to me, but things I knew about and saw in the world.”
‘When It All Goes Down‘ is the title track of Sarah King’s new album which will be released on 29th March.
