HYPOXIA, the new album by Liverpool-raised Newcastle-based singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, was inspired by Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar. The album came about after Williams was commissioned to write songs about Plath for the Durham Book Festival's celebration of Plath's life and work, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her semi-autobiographical book's publication in 1963 – the same year the writer and poet took her own life.
It is Williams’s 12th album and comes 15 years after her second record Little Black Numbers was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Hypoxia was produced by Ed Harcourt and Williams has said that she wanted to make people reassess Plath and not see her just as “the sexy, depressing writer poster girl”. Stand-outs on the album include Electric, Cuckoo, the country-ish Part of Us and the gorgeous When Nothing Meant Less.
Did you enjoy your Edinburgh gig last weekend?
Yeah, it was really nice and it was full. My bass player normally drives me about but he had to go to Jura to record and my keyboard player was getting a night train back to London, so I was left at the venue and I was kind of thinking, 'What do I do?’ Luckily, the writer Ian Rankin was there. He’s a friend and there were a couple of other musician friends who I knew, so they were all like 'Have a drink’ and so I did. Then an American woman drove me back to my hotel. So it was all a bit insane.
Are you a big fan of crime writer Rankin?
I know him through [Scottish singer-songwriter] James Yorkston. I don’t actually know his stuff that well but my mum and dad are massive fans of his and they always scream down the phone at me when I tell them I’m going to meet him. He’s just a bloke to me.
How did your album Hypoxia piece itself together after the initial commission from the Durham Book Festival?
It was an open commission to do songs on Sylvia Plath, so it wasn’t actually meant to be all about The Bell Jar. I re-read sections of the book over and over. It was really exciting, because it was like pulling a clock apart and working out which bits had to go back together. I did five songs and played them live with a cellist and a guitar player. Then I couldn’t stop, so I called the record label and ran the idea of doing and album by them and they said it sounded good.
How did you come to co-write Cuckoo with Ed Harcourt?
We made the whole album in three days. I stayed in Ed’s house and we’d walk to the studio. He has this rally great bath, so I had a bath and wrote all the lyrics for Cuckoo and came down and we recorded it. We wrote it all in about half an hour at the piano. It felt really exciting and it’s become the stand-out track for everyone, which is fantastic
You and Ed recently appeared on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends, performing Cuckoo. Did you enjoy playing in front of fellow guests John Cleese and Fiona Bruce?
It was funny. I had to look at the wall when I was singing, because there was this table of famous people and us in the corner. I couldn’t look at anyone or I would have started laughing!
Would you say that, in terms of lyrics, Tango With Marco is the darkest thing on the album?
My mum heard that one and said `I don’t like that song’ but you’re not meant to. I had to do justice to Sylvia Plath and the book and a big part of her was being confrontational and unblinking and dark and visceral, so I couldn’t just write nice pretty songs. I had to tackle it as she would have. It was a good lesson.
Would you say that a lot of people have a one-dimensional view of Plath?
Definitely. A lot of people hear the name Sylvia Plath and they use The Bell Jar as this shorthand for teenage angst or suicide or depression, going 'You’re a bit Sylvia Plath’, without realising the whole person that she was. She was a mother and she was funny too and her writing reflects that.
Are you hoping to play any Irish gigs this year?
Yeah, we’ve been talking about it. Michelle Stodart [from The Magic Numbers] comes and sings and plays guitar at a lot of shows with me. So we’ve been talking about doing a double-headline act in October. I haven’t played in Ireland for ages and I love it there. I’ve played Dublin, Galway, Cork, Belfast, Derry and Dundalk. There’s loads of great places to play. I really loved Belfast. The people there are similar to the people in Liverpool and Newcastle.
:: Hypoxia is out now on One Little Indian. For tour updates, visit KathrynWilliams.co.uk.
