Singer/songwriter kate the dreamer is a force, leaving no stone unturned in her musical career. Finding her footing in indie folk, she has spent the past few years developing her sound over the course of steady single & EP releases. Now settling into a more cinematic sound, she’s continuing to hone her craft, finding new sonic spaces that allow her to express herself.
Most recently, kate the dreamer released two sister singles, “Plastic Heart” Pt 1 & 2. The first part is mostly an upbeat, indie pop song, but trails off into an atmospheric dreamscape. Pt 2 takes listeners further into that realm of hazy synths and vocals dripping with reverb.
In addition to her recent release, kate the dreamer is also currently on the road with pop duo FRENSHIP, as an opener. I was able to chat with her on Zoom to hear all about this exciting time in her career.
Brigid: Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to hop on here with me! First off, I wanted to congratulate you on your single releases! How are you feeling about the release and everything that comes along with it?
Kate: Thank you! When you put out songs as an independent artist, like with “Familiar Feeling”, there was all this hype around it, [being used on] TikTok, and everything. Sometimes it can be a little discouraging when the next song doesn’t have that. With this song in particular, it was so special to me. It’s probably my favorite piece of music that I’ve ever put out, so I was kind of just happy to put it out. It just felt really special, it was a very personal release. That’s how this release felt, it was more for me than it was for anything else. Which is okay, there are songs that are like that.
Brigid: Totally, it’s a therapeutic thing. I’d love to know more about how you chose to split it into two parts, because the last minute of part 1 sort of has the same vibes as part 2, so I’m curious as to how it became two pieces.
Kate: Yeah, I love this question. I haven’t gotten around to fully explaining this, I wanted to do something on my social media, but since getting home from tour, I’m like, dead. This song was written almost a year ago, and during that time I had been dating around. It was fun, but I never fully felt like myself. That was the fun part of it, being different versions of myself. When we were writing it, ‘plastic heart’ had been written in my notes. ‘You can’t bleed from plastic hearts’ was the line that I had, and it was in my notes for years. Probably since I was 21 or 22 years old. It’s meant different things over the years, and I’ve tried to write it many times, but it just never happened. When I came to this session, I had just gone through another situationship break up. I was just like, ‘I feel like I’m now the one with the plastic heart.’ Who doesn’t give a shit about anybody, isn’t caring about anyone’s feelings… I felt so numb. When we were writing it, that’s where that first part lived. As we were finishing it up, I started seeing someone. I had known this person for a very long time, and I started seeing glimpses of myself again, within a relationship. I was like, wow, I forgot what this feels like. I started to realize that I was the person who was blocking myself from feeling that way, and I was blaming it on everybody else. I chose that, because I wasn’t ready to be vulnerable. So that second part of part 1 was the evolution of realizing I don’t need anybody to save me. I don’t need anybody to show me who I am, I just am who I am. If somebody accepts that, great. If they don’t, that’s okay too. At the time, that was kind of what was happening to me in my life. I wanted to do this whole vocal thing, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to just tag it onto the song. It wound up being like, 6 minutes long. That’s when we decided that it made more sense to split it up. I had seen this artist Julianna Barwick… I went to this random festival that I got invited to, and we sat and watched her set. She does this looping thing over her vocals, and she picks one sentence usually. To me, it was so powerful. It was angelic, we were in the middle of the forest, she was captivating this audience by singing three words. I’m usually the wordiest person out there, just adding words in… I wanted to challenge myself to create something that had just one or two words. You can barely hear it, but I’m saying “alive” towards the end of part 2. That’s really how it felt for me, it sounds dramatic but these two songs are the evolution of how I found myself again. I feel like for a while I was just lost in all the bullshit.
Brigid: I feel like that’s a really common thing for people, to have those personal evolutions where the walls go up and go back down. It’s cool that you immortalized that in an artistic form.
Kate: Thank you, it felt right. I had the concept for so long. The line I wrote down was about my ex when we were dating, I felt like he had a shell. But I felt everything and gave everything. Then it felt like I was building this plastic wall around myself, and plastic is pretty flimsy. So for me, it didn’t take much for me to break out of it. I want to be genuinely authentic in my life, and I feel like as you get older, you start to realize that you just don’t care anymore. I got so obsessed with creating a perfect relationship, which doesn’t exist. Your relationship with yourself is what’s most important. It took me a long time to actually realize that.
Brigid: There’s this whole idea of finding your other half, so it takes people a while to realize that they’re whole on their own.
Kate: Dude, totally. It feels corny sometimes, but the most important person you take care of is yourself. I would always put dudes emotions above my own, drive all over LA for them… just constantly putting them first. I just chalked it up to me being overly emotional, but that wasn’t the case.
Brigid: This is so random, but what’s your zodiac sign?
Kate: Yes, I love this! I’m a Taurus.
Brigid: Word, I’m a Taurus moon. That’s why I think I relate to everything you’re saying right now, we have a similar chart placement. Back to your music, you have a really unique sound, but it definitely sits in that indie space. I’m super curious to know, what are you listening to right now?
Kate: It’s funny you say that, because I feel like as I’ve been playing on tour, many people have been commenting on my sound evolution. My roots are in folk singer/songwriter, but I refused to be that. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’ve always had a cinematic love of sound. Just big walls of sound, which doesn’t work well with singer/songwriter. I do love that kind of music, like I love Lizzy McAlpine and that whole crew of people. They inspire me lyrically, so much. Sonically, I’ve really been loving Dora Jar. Biig Piig, I absolutely love. Just marrying that with Florence + The Machine, and Maggie Rogers. Taking the indie girls I absolutely love and marrying them with a weirder sonic sound. I’m not quite cool enough to be Dora Jar, but my hippie roots… it’s like 50% of me. If I could just marry those two songs, that’s the direction I want to go in. But I also want to differentiate myself, and not just follow a trendy sound. I want my music to have longevity.
Brigid: Yeah, timeless. I think cinematic is a great way to describe your sound, especially these last two singles.
Kate: If all of my songs could be in a movie, that’s the goal. Not like any movie, but a movie like Interstellar.
Brigid: I also wanted to ask you about the tour you’re currently on. What’s it like being on the road?
Kate: It’s so fun dude, I love it. They make fun of me saying that I’m on the bougiest tour I could ever be on. They’re like, 35. We’re not eating Taco Bell. James and I went out to this fancy Japanese restaurant. We’re friends, I love them so much and they really just protect me in so many ways. The way they’ve treated me this whole time has been really special, and I know that’s pretty unique, in terms of being an opener. They’re a bunch of brothers, essentially. Also, meeting people… like, I’m a small artist. This opportunity came and I jumped all over it, because I know it doesn’t usually happen to people at my level. Watching people in the audience be like ‘who the fuck is this girl?’ and then at the end be actually engaged, and then talk to me after, and buy my merch… I didn’t think anyone was going to buy my merch, but I tried to make it super cute. I put a little moon on it. That’s why I loved that you asked me about astrology, I love astrology. Moon, stars, all of it… big into that. But people have been so supportive and nice, I feel like I’ve gained a lot of fans for life. They’re super receptive, and super kind. There was one girl who knew every word to all of my songs, and that made me feel really special. I’ve been loving meeting people, and being surrounded by a lot of love.
Brigid: That’s awesome, it sounds like a really special environment.
Kate: Yeah, I just didn’t expect it! I don’t know, I didn’t go in expecting the worst. Tour prep was a lot of hours, I had never played with tracks before. It was a lot for me, I wanted to put on a good show. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. And to meet people who care… it’s just special.
Brigid: That sounds really fulfilling, which is awesome. My last question I have for you is about future projects, is there anything you’re working on? Or is tour the main focus?
Kate: I’d say it’s a bit of both. I just quit my full time job, which was in astrology, believe it or not. I’ve never not had a job, since I was 14. Music is a job, but it’s so funny to me that it is a job. Because I’m just having fun. I’m trying to give myself the room to be a full time musician. I have plans to release something I’ve been working on for a few months, more in the acoustic vein. Then, I have a song coming out with FRENSHIP and another person who I won’t name, but I’m really excited for that. My plan is just to really experiment with sound. I have a couple of songs I’ve been working on that I really love, so I’m going to see if it makes sense to release those next or maybe deep dive into a different sound. Definitely at the in-between stage, but definitely things coming.
Brigid: It sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to! That’s all I have for you today, thank you so much!
Kate: Thank you, my astrological twin!
Listen to ‘Plastic Hearts’ parts 1 & 2 here!
