See: Raveloe finds escape in the fine, rolling folk-rock of ‘Catkins’ – she’s so one to watch in ’22

IT’S THAT time of year when those of us who spill ink about music begin to look forward; the old year nearly done and captured and bottled barring end-of-year lists to write, and a whole new exciting calendar ahead.

It’s also the time when we begin to apply our minds in the occasionally foolish errand of scrying the glass for who might bust through BIGtime once 2022 get its best schmutter on.

Me, I try not to get too carried away with such things, cos that way lies eating words and a crash and burn – no Nostradamus am I; but sometimes a budding creative force comes along and their talent is so easy and massive and undeniable that you really have no choice but to play prophet.

Once such, and prior to this my only ’22 tip so far, is LA’s Alyssa Gengos, and there’s more about her here, when you care to come back to it; but it’s to these shores we turn now, as Kim Grant, raised in Motherwell, playing out in the world as Raveloe, drops the brilliance of “Catkins”. See if you think I’m right; we have her new single, which is out today, below.

Multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Kim grew up in that former steeltown, once home to the massive Ravenscraig complex, Grant had to find escape in what she calls nature’s ‘little beauties – the wild flowers in a forgotten corner, the vacant plot running wild, untended. It’s these little colonies that inspire this single; she spotted catkins growing on a willow through her Glasgow hallway window.

The song also explores the contradictory nature of change and the fear and excitement, flipsides of the emotional coin that accompany it; and what an accomplished, mature bit of songwriting it is, folk-rock with grit and melody, tension building and rolling and releasing in that stuttering beat; a pretty and arpeggiating, almost shoegaze middle break; a beautiful voice.

This isn’t the sound of an artist with songcraft to watch in the future; this is the sound of an artist who’s fully arrived.

Kim says: “When I spotted the catkins, I thought of their temporality and how their presence marked a change and the birth of spring, which led me into thinking of the nature of time in general. 

“This song is about the nature of time [and] change and is also largely connected with moving through and beyond trauma and pain by showing yourself compassion, learning to be honest with yourself and others and processing it layer by layer.” 

And why Raveloe? No literary slouch, her musical project is named for the fictional village in George Eliot’s 1861 social realist novel Silas Marner. It’s gonna be fascinating to see her develop in 2022.

Raveloe will celebrate the release of “Catkins” with a headlining show at Glasgow’s The Glad Cafe next Thursday, December 2nd. Be there if you can.

Raveloe’s “Catkins” is out today on all digital streaming platforms via Olive Grove Records.

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