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Over the course of the last couple years, the Charlottesville-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kate Bollinger has mastered her collage-like vision of creating songs that instantly transport the listener to calm comforts. Across her kaleidoscopic full-length debut, Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind, Bollinger summons the mythical ambience of a teen beat coffeehouse with roaming imagination and modest simplicity, sounding both contemporary and classic. From the sunny Laurel Canyon coolness of "Any Day Now" to the hermetic melancholy of "To Your Own Devices," and the '60s psych pop perfection of "What's This About (La La La La)," Bollinger's whisper of vocals seamlessly lace through the sharply observed and fragile melodies, framing a sound that's distinctly breathtaking. We recently spoke with Bollinger all about her move across the country, how it enlightened the new album, and what it was like directing a music video for Jessica Pratt.
First tell me what you've been up to lately? What have you been listening to, reading, watching, or spending a lot of time doing?
Kate Bollinger: I've been spending a lot of time working on various projects… mostly making music videos and working on finishing this lyric and photo book that I made to release with my album. I've been really into the Laura Nyro album Eli And The Thirteenth Confession, the Peter Ivers compilation album Becoming Peter Ivers, and R. Stevie Moore. I like reading musician bios mostly, Wayward by Vashti Bunyan is one of my favorites. I haven't had much time to watch things recently, but I always go back to Seinfeld and Gilmore Girls… and YouTube videos. I watched the original Cinderella last night!
Tell our readers a little about your background. What was it like growing up in Charlottesville, what was your childhood like, and when did you get more serious playing music?
I loved growing up in Charlottesville. It's a small town with lots of music and art happening and the most beautiful nature. I have two older brothers and I spent a lot of time playing with them outside in the creek, catching frogs, and making up games. Both of them played music from a young age and all their band practices over the years took place in our basement. It was a really loud, chaotic, and fun household, with lots of music and pets running around. And with music—I always loved singing. My brother gave me a journal for Christmas one year with a songwriting guide he wrote for me in the first few pages and I started writing lots of songs after that. For two summers when I was in high school, I went to songwriting camp and when I got back to town I started playing shows and uploading recordings of my songs to the internet.
Who's music would you say has made the most impact on your life and why?
My two older brothers. I have lots of really early memories of going with my parents to see my oldest brother's band play. I still have a bunch of his old music on an iPod somewhere. My middle brother played bass and drums for years and made lots of albums in the basement, and then in high school he started playing guitar and singing out of the blue and made one of my favorite albums of all time. Their music, along with this Charlottesville/Philly band called The Extraordinaires, are and were very influential to me.
What made you want to move to Los Angeles? What have you enjoyed most about living there and making music?
I visited LA for the first time in 2021 to see a friend and decided the day that I arrived that I was going to move here. I started coming out more in 2022 to record and make music videos and met a lot of my closest friends from doing that. It was always my plan to leave Virginia after college and it kind of unexpectedly became the place that I had the most friends.
How do you feel looking back on your catalog? Do you still like or relate to your past releases?
I don't relate to a lot of my older music anymore, but I guess a lot of people feel that way about their old stuff. Music used to be such a solitary thing for me, but then there was a period of time where I kind of stopped listening to my own instincts and it's taken me a while to get back to that.
Regarding your new album, you've said that this feels like your musical debut and that you're finally able to express all sides of yourself in one record. What insight can you share about your upcoming album Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind and how exactly did it all come together in the studio?
I recorded the album in June of 2023 at Sam Evian's studio in the Catskills with Sam, Adam Brisbin, Jacob Grissom, and Matthew E. White. We rehearsed for a day and then recorded all of the songs live to tape. It was like a dreamy little retreat out in the woods. When I first moved to LA I spent a lot of time working with different people and I kind of realized in that time that I just wanted to make a record close to home with people I've known for a long time.
How would you describe working on this new one compared to 2022's EP Look at it in the Light?
Look at it in the Light was recorded at a studio out on a farm in Louisa, Virginia. When I was in high school, I acquired a free day of recording at that studio and it went unused for years. Finally, at some point in college, my band and I recorded my EP I Don't Wanna Lose and continued recording there for the next few years up until I moved away. So…although I was working with a different producer and band, I would say they were pretty similar experiences in certain ways. They were both recorded mostly live in the summertime in beautiful natural places on the East Coast.
What are the origins of the opening cut "What's This About (La La La La)" and what were the inspirations behind it? Also what was it like putting together the music video for it?
That one kind of wrote itself. The melody just appeared in my head almost fully formed and then I messed around and figured out the chords. For the music video I turned my living room into a girly teen bedroom and slept in there for a week. My friend Corrinne [James] painted a mural/headboard on the wall and my friend Emma [Collins] and I made prop cakes. We shot the video over the course of two days: outside with my band and inside with my friend Eve. It was shot by Eve's boyfriend, Gilles O'Kane, who is an amazing cinematographer.
What has it been like directing and writing your own music videos? Do you sometimes come up with a video idea before the song it accompanies?
Very fun and it seems like I come to some new conclusion with each one I make. And no, the song always informs the video!
What can you tell me about the lead single "Any Day Now"? Also what was it like working with Ambar Navarro on the video for it?
I actually wrote that song with Matt when he was visiting LA. It's very easy and fun writing with him. We just talk about our lives for a long time and then write a song. Working with Ambar [Navarro] was awesome. I was a little burnt out at the time and it was nice to be less involved with that one, besides being in it. Plus I love her style so I trusted that I could let go of control and it would turn out great.
How did "God Interlude" come together?
Hmm, well I started writing this one with Matt when he was in town and finished it later by myself. This one was also kind of driven by the melody. Sam and I ordered coconuts online and did a little sound design horse vibe at the beginning of the song.
Another one I very much enjoy is "I See It Now." How did this one come about?
Thank you! Matt and I wrote this one together one day when he was visiting LA. It was written on just piano but it had this implied big full band circus feel to me. Matt came up from Virginia to Sam's studio while we were recording the album and played piano on all the songs he had written with me. A lot of my references for this song were abstract and visual, so he helped me a bit with translating to the band.
Which song from the record means the most to you (and why)?
I think the final song, "All This Time." I remember exactly where I was when I wrote it. I was visiting LA and staying alone in a friend's apartment that had a huge window overlooking Echo Park Lake and all the tiny houses tucked into the hills. It felt like a really magical time. My whole world kind of exploded and expanded. I hadn't been to LA before 2021 and I met so many people that totally changed my life and my perspective.
What's the story behind the album's cover art?
When I first moved to LA, I found this book of old Japanese ads called MOGA. I came across one design in particular that I couldn't get out of my head, of a girl underwater, with fish swimming around her, stirring a huge fish bowl. I thought it kind of looked like she was stirring a pot of soup. I knew I wanted to use that image. I like to try and make the world that I want to live in, so for the cover I wanted something kind of magical and surreal but also peaceful and comforting, like something out of a children's book.
Going back to your visuals, what was it like working on the video to Jessica Pratt's "World on a String"? What are some of your favorite memories associated with that?
It was a dream come true to make. We had less than a week to plan and shoot it, so the main memories I have are of long email exchanges with Jessica over the course of a few days, eating leftover pizza for all meals, and not really sleeping, just pure adrenaline! I got to bring in a ton of my friends to work on it, it was really fun and just a crazy honor to be included.
What were some of the highlights performing at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater back in '22?
[laughs] We didn't do a soundcheck with the puppets so when they came out during the show I was seeing them for the first time and I couldn't stop laughing. I would hear their little wooden joints coming from backstage and start laughing in anticipation, I could hardly sing that whole show.
How excited are you to be playing these songs live with your band throughout the months of October and November?
Very! I've toured a lot, but it will feel different touring the record. It's nice to sing songs and sentiments that still feel current.
Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind is out now on Ghostly International.