“Sound Of The Morning” is the title of Katy J Pearson's second album

Versatile songwriter embraces folk and pop on infectious second album 

After 2020’s breakthrough Return, Katy J Pearson continues to occupy a neat middle ground between folksy songwriter and melodic pop singer. Her deeply unique voice - a sort of Gillian Welch/Kate Bush hybrid - is an immediately captivating presence on the opening “Sound Of The Morning”. The track marries deft fingerpicking with gently fluttering woodwind to land on something almost Nick Drake-esque. 

Pearson’s clear knack for melodic songcraft is plentiful, across the breezy “Talk Over Town” or the sugary indie-pop of “Alligator”, resulting in an album that nails introspective songwriting just as seamlessly as it does infectious pop.

“I wanted to create something with a bit more edge", says Katy J Pearson of her second album, Sound Of The Morning. 

"Emotionally, it's a journey of an album that goes through some happy, joyous moments, but it's also reflective of genuine hard times and bad memories. It feels darker in places, but still has that bittersweet feeling to it."

This mixture of light and dark finds Pearson reflecting on an album that conjures up memories ranging "from a beautiful morning in Devon to a rowdy pub in London with assholes in it". Influences were vast - from Cate Le Bon to The Byrds and from The Wicker Man to the words of Angela Carter - and collaborators included Morgan Simpson (Black Midi), Campbell Baum (Sorry), Orlando Weeks and H Hawkline. Ultimately, though, it's Pearson’s own journey that has most firmly shaped the record.

"Personal change in my life was a big one", she says. "The new songs feel very reflective of the present-day me. Writing the songs definitely healed some things for me".