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Kathie TouinNews about Kathie |
Autumn 2023...
Kathie's new EP, People Keep Dancing Here, is released on Friday 13 October. There are four new songs and a bonus track. All I Am Is Here is released as a single on 28 September, and The Falling Keep Falling is released as a single on 2 November.
Steve Conway (DJ, 8Radio.com) says of the EP: "I can tell you this, I've listened and it's GREAT!"
The EP and the individual tracks are available to download or stream from the usual outlets, including Kathie's Bandcamp site where you can also buy a CD. Alternatively, you can buy a CD from the Buy Music page on this website. Here is a video taster of the EP...
Radio Six International playlist the track The Falling Keep Falling. Other radio stations playing tracks include Vectis Radio (thank you Kieren Thomson) and CFBX (thank you Music Mania With Hassan).
Meanwhile Eamonn Keyes' review of the EP for Orkney News also shares some secrets about life in Kathie's homeland.
Summer 2023...
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On 17 June 2023 there is yet another appearance for Kathie (her 11th, she thinks) on Steve Conway's A-Z Of Great Tracks on 8Radio.com. This time Steve plays Kathie's song Gobsmacked from her album Butterfly Bones. Steve says: "Kathie Touin is truly great."
Winter 2022/23...
At Christmas Kathie releases a new recording of In The Bleak Midwinter (original music by Gustav Holst), available as a free download from her Bandcamp page. The track was played by presenter Cameron Stout on BBC Radio Orkney's Hogmanay Special.
Kathie says: "I've always loved this beautiful Christmas carol which, despite its title, feels to me like a cosy, warm Christmas Eve when all is quiet and calm. I arranged and recorded this instrumental version in my home studio in Orkney and filmed the video just outside."
Autumn 2022...
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BBC Radio Orkney broadcasts a special edition of its arts programme, Tullimentan, on 14 November 2022 to mark the 100th anniversary of the BBC. The presenter Huw Williams also delves into earlier radio history. Kathie is interviewed along with her husband, Graham Brown, to discuss the track There's A Wireless Station Down In My Heart, a 1913 song which she recorded for the British Broadcasting Century podcast (see earlier news item).
You can listen to the show, which is full of fascinating Orkney and broadcasting stories, on BBC Radio Orkney's MixCloud feed. And you can stream or download There's A Wireless Station Down In My Heart on Kathie's Bandcamp page.
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On 14 September 2022 Kathie makes another appearance (her 10th) on Steve Conway's A-Z Of Great Tracks on 8Radio.com, this time with her song Does It Really Matter taken from her Butterfly Bones album. Kathie says: "A terribly silly song but I'm fond of it. Thanks, Steve!"
The following month, on 26 October, Steve played Kathie's song Dragonfly on the A-Z, also taken from the Butterfly Bones album. As Steve said it is "an oblique" title track because Butterfly Bones is part of the song's lyrics. Other Dragonfly tracks featured in the show with Kathie were by Paul Weller and by Fleetwood Mac. "Not bad company to be in," says Kathie.
Summer 2022...
Kathie releases the track There's A Wireless Station Down In My Heart on 8 August 2022. It's a 1913 song which Kathie specially recorded for the British Broadcasting Century podcast.
There's A Wireless Station Down in My Heart has words by Ed Moran & Joe McCarthy, music by James V Monaco. The song was written when wireless did not mean wi-fi like today and even pre-dates radio broadcasting in the sense that we know it. Instead the song celebrates wireless communication via Morse code, in a rather saucy way.
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Thank you to Paul Kerensa for featuring Kathie's recording on his excellent podcast. Listen to the British Broadcasting Century via Podbean, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
Kathie created two versions of the song, one an old-time mono recording, the other in stereo. Both are available to download exclusively from Kathie's Bandcamp page.
You can now hear - and watch - the live performance of Kathie's piece for string trio, Raven: Black Upon Blue, inspired by writer and artist Ellen Forkin's lovely prose piece, Raven, in St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, by members of Orkney Camerata to celebrate the centenary of George Mackay Brown's birth....
The performers in this video are: Janet Yeung (violin), Lynn Procter (viola), Catherine Browne (cello); conductor Brian Jones.
All the writing and music that make up the project can be found on the George Mackay Brown Fellowship website.
Find out more about Ellen Forkin's writing and beautiful, cheeky illustrations on her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X) pages and on her website.
Spring 2022...
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Kathie says: "I'm over the moon to have my piece Raven: Black Upon Blue premiered on Sunday 22 May by Orkney Camerata in St Magnus Cathedral. This is part of the Words Into Music project to mark the centenary of the birth of Orcadian writer George Mackay Brown. My piece is inspired by the lovely writing of Ellen Forkin."
Kathie's composition is one of nine short pieces that will be played in the cathedral during the concert, which begins at 7.30pm. Tickets on the door.
Ellen's short prose piece, Raven, which inspired Kathie's music, will be read on the night. Find out more about Ellen's writing and fantastic illustrations on her Twitter or Facebook pages.
Winter 2021/22...
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17 February 2022: a big announcement from Kathie: "I'm very excited to announce that my music is now available on Bandcamp! To celebrate you can get 50% off physical or digital purchases at https://kathietouin.bandcamp.com/ - just use the voucher code LAUNCHDAY at checkout. This offer is only for a limited time so go grab a bargain.
"You can purchase my CDs and downloads as well as stream tracks via the Bandcamp website or the Bandcamp app. Bandcamp is an online record store and music community where passionate fans discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love."
Also this month Kathie's most recent album - Facing The Falling Sky - launches on Isle20, a super website where you can buy arts, crafts and music from all over the Scottish islands. This is Kathie's Isle20 page.
On 15 December 2021 Kathie makes another appearance on Steve Conway's A-Z Of Great Tracks on 8Radio.com with her composition Bruised Again, taken from her 2009 album Dark Moons & Nightingales. Steve says: "What a brilliant title for a moody, beautiful album."
Summer 2021...
On 21 July 2021 Kathie makes her eighth appearance on Steve Conway's A-Z Of Great Tracks on 8Radio.com with her song Back To California, taken from her 2009 album Dark Moons & Nightingales. In the A-Z Kathie's track appears between Back To Black by Amy Winehouse and Back To Life by Soul II Soul.
Spring 2021...
On 17 May 2021 Kathie releases a video to accompany her song This Time (Save The World?). Kathie directed and produced the video which was filmed at the historic naval air base HMS Tern in West Mainland, Orkney, Scotland (and in Kathie's garage at her home nearby)...
Kathie writes about the making of the video in an Orkney News article.
Find out more about the air field, and how to visit, on the HMS Tern website.
Winter 2020/21...
On 20 January 2021 Kathie makes her seventh appearance on Steve Conway's A-Z Of Great Tracks on 8Radio.com with her song Adam's Kiss, the first track from her first all-original album - Butterfly Bones (released in 2005).
Suzy Wilde plays Live In The Wind on Radio Caroline on 21 December 2020. The track comes from Kathie's latest collection Facing The Falling Sky which Suzy describes as an "excellent album".
Autumn 2020...
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Kathie releases a brand new song as a single on 20 November 2020 - This Time (Save The World?), written and recorded during the covid restrictions. She appears on BBC Radio Orkney to talk about the song...
The next day the track is played by André van Os on his show on the legendary Radio Caroline.
The song is available to download or stream at all outlets including Amazon, YouTube Music, Apple Music and Spotify...
Neil Vessey features the track on his Folk Pilot programme on Deal Radio in Kent, England. Kathie appears at 54 minutes but there is plenty of other good music before that...
And This Time (Save The World?) is featured by Tony Haynes on two of his shows on Tempo 107.4 FM (Wetherby, England), first New4U and then FAB Folk And Blues...
Summer 2020...
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Kathie is guest blogger at the Quoyloo Quill - in A View From Orkney's West Mainland she writes about life during lockdown and a new song she is recording.
Kathie pauses decorating and re-configuring her home studio - or should that be paw-sed? - to create a video for A Dog Like You, the bonus track on her most recent album Facing The Falling Sky...
Kathie's version of Satie's Gymnopedie No.1 from her album Soliloquy Deluxe pops up on BBC Radio 2 on the Liza Tarbuck show in June 2020.
Spring 2020...
Kathie's version of the delightful piano piece The Isle Of Palms by Walter Carroll was featured on BBC Radio Orkney's morning news programme, Around Orkney, on 7 May (at the end of the show)...
You can also hear the piece, from Carroll's South Seas Suite, on Kathie's YouTube Channel or here...
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Kathie's latest album Facing The Falling Sky is reviewed in the Spring 2020 edition of The Musician.
They say: "Orkney-based Californian Touin draws on the inspiration of her remote island home to create this powerful, reflective album. Birdsong, barking dogs and seals all meet the man-made intrigues of Theramin, Stylophone and wooden frog."
Meanwhile Kathie's version of Satie's Gymnopedie No.3 from her album Soliloquy Deluxe is getting regular plays on the Netherlands' Classic NL Chill Out. The track has reached number three in the station's top numbers of both the last seven days and the last 30 days.
While many of us are at home here is Kathie Touin playing Mozart Menuetto to brighten our day. And for those who are essential workers and therefore not at home - thank you. There are more pieces on Kathie's YouTube Channel...
New Year 2020...
In January 2020 Kathie releases the second single from her Facing The Falling Sky album - I Met You On A Sunday...
Facing The Falling Sky - Kathie Touin's new album - gets a 4-star review in the January/February 2020 issue of RnR Magazine, describing it as "a fine selection of songs"...
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At the start of the year, Kathie presents a programme of her Musical Milestones on BBC Radio Orkney, including Rush, Keith Emerson, JS Bach, The Beatles and Kate Bush (and special thanks to programme producer, and Radio Orkney Big Cheese, Dave Gray)...
Autumn into Winter 2019...
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Facing The Falling Sky - the first new album from Kathie Touin in 10 years - is available now from this website, or to download or stream from all the usual outlets.
The 15-track album features 13 of Kathie's songs plus two instrumentals which bookend the collection. The album's title reflects the courage Kathie found in facing up to ill health and loss, even when it seemed as though the sky was falling in.
Kathie says: "I never intended for there to be such a big break between releases but a lot happened in the intervening time. The biggest loss was my good friend who was also my biggest musical inspiration. It made working on music too painful for a time. Along the way I had scary health issues, culminating with a serious spinal operation on my neck."
This is Kathie's fifth album, and the third of her own songs. During the recording she experimented with sound, for the first time using samples, loops and her own ambient recordings. There are also appearances by a theremin, a Stylophone and even a kazoo.
The first single from the album is Waiting For The Silence. Other songs on the album include: Selkie Of Skaill Bay, Kathie's own take on an Orkney myth of seals adopting human form; The Aftermath, about the loss of her friend; Between Heaven And The Sky, with a string trio; and The Stirring Of Ghosts, featuring guitarist Arron Storey.
Kathie says: "Life is happier and healthier now and I'm delighted to have finished these songs and to release them into the world."
Facing The Falling Sky was produced, recorded and mixed by Kathie Touin at her own Starling Recording Studio in Orkney.
You can order a signed copy of Facing The Falling Sky on the Buy Music page of this website.
Meanwhile, read about the album on Kathie's blog, and on the Orkney News website, and listen to Kathie on BBC Radio Orkney's Around Orkney programme on the day the album was released, 1 November 2019...
The single Waiting For The Silence has been played on BBC Radio Scotland, Vectis Radio in the Isle of Wight, by André van Os on Radio Caroline and featured on Neil Vessey's The Folk Pilot on Kent-based Deal Radio.
Waiting For The Silence also became the sixth song of Kathie's to be featured by DJ Steve Conway in his A-Z Of Great Tracks series on 8Radio.com.
Then, on Christmas Day on 8Radio.com, Steve Conway revealed Conway's Christmas Gifts - 17 albums he loves and would gift to a friend. Everyone from Kate Bush to Paul Weller and PJ Harvey - and Kathie's Facing The Falling Sky. Steve said: "It's a brilliant album. It is so good." He chose Love & Hope to play.
Nic Perrins, Pat Edison and other DJs on Radio Caroline have been playing the song Live In The Wind. The track also got a spin on Glastonbury FM's World Beat programme.
Across the Atlantic, the album was playlisted by CFBX in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
Back in the UK, Alan Waring, breakfast presenter on Biggles FM in Bedfordshire, featured tracks from the album. Alan particularly likes the bonus track, A Dog Like You.
And on Tempo 107.4 FM, broadcasting in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, Tony Haynes on the New4U show also played A Dog Like You as well as The Aftermath. You can hear Tony's show with Kathie's two songs here...
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