We’re pleased to premiere the latest single from Canadian singer-songwriter Katie Cruel. Recorded by GRAMMY-winning engineer and producer Mark Howard, ‘Close to the Sun’ is beautifully-layered. There are instrumental textures that become apparent the more you listen to the song, sweeping notes that rise from sonic depths. Over a light, rhythmic strum, Cruel’s voice is dreamily melodic, drifting on tuneful currents that absorb and hypnotise. Her words capture, through specific narrative detail and intriguing phrasing, a resigned feeling of betrayal: “I just wanted to sing songs, turns out you’re singing them with everyone.”
Katie says of the inspiration behind the song: “I was falling for a dude and I thought for a moment he was falling too. I figured he was singing songs just for me but it turns out he was singing them with everyone. Like me, he tends to fly pretty close to the sun now and again, so I rolled with it. I got burned but it was worth it. The song came quickly.”
Katie Cruel is a singer-songwriter, who has named herself after a centuries-old traditional folk song about a woman who is shunned and scorned by those who had once celebrated her. It’s an intriguing choice, directing us to the heartbreaking narrative of a woman’s fall from favour. Katie Cruel’s debut album ‘Lost Vegus’ delivers similar stories, sharing the tales of vulnerable women, weary and resigned, who are on the edge and losing control.
Look out for Cruel’s new songs and our friends in Canada can catch them live at her opening slot with Wilco at Massey Hall, Toronto, in July 2024. Enjoy.
