Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist Kathryn Mohr unveils “Take It,” the final standalone single from her debut album Waiting Room, out next week on The Flenser.
Mohr comments: “I rarely know what I’m talking about until way after a song is done. Lyrics are the result of emotional vomit and blind scribblings, understanding comes when I get as close as I can to being a listener rather than a creator.”
She concludes, “‘Take It,’ now that it’s in the rear view mirror, is about abusive relationships, dream logic, dehumanization, superstition, power imbalances, and paradoxes. It’s about getting dragged through ruble while holding on to a thread of hope and finally letting go of your own will because of your own growth. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record.“
Written and self-recorded over the course of a month in eastern Iceland, within the walls of a disused fish factory surrounded by remote nature, Mohr spent hours immersed in the writing and recording of Waiting Room in a windowless concrete room lit with a string of multicolored light bulbs, taking breaks to wander the factory or disappear up the shoreline—field recorder in hand. What came out of those recording hours are songs inspired by horror as extravagant as limb amputation by a faulty elevator and lyrics as maze-like and misguided as the torturous love and fears they depict.
What do you think of “Take It,” excited for Kathryn Mohr’s debut?
