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independentartistbuzz · 1 year

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7 From the Women with Kristen Rae Bowden

Charlottesville-based singer/songwriter Kristen Rae Bowden's music exhibits a bold vulnerability. She’s a confessional storyteller with a theatrical flair who draws from a wide swath of influences, including Kate Bush, Phoebe Bridgers, Radiohead, and Madi Diaz.

Her latest song, "Fault Lines," is a powerful indie pop piece about a break up she experienced. She paints a captivating musical picture using vibrant lyrics and stunning melodies as she compares fault lines to relationships.

We got a chance to speak with Kristen about her music, career, and influences in this edition of 7 From the Women:

What have you been working to promote lately?

I just released a midsummer single called ‘Fault Lines’! It’s a road-trip-worthy indie pop song inspired by a breakup on the Highway 1 in California. In case you’re unfamiliar, the Highway 1/Pacific Coast Highway is an iconic, stunningly scenic road that winds along the Cali coastline. As it does so it crosses several fault lines, including the famous San Andreas Fault, which has been responsible for numerous earthquakes.

In my song I used the cliff-side scenery to represent the feeling of a breakup… like you’re on the edge of a precipice and can’t see what’s next. And I used the first line, “It’s all your fault,” to word-play with ideas of blame and shaky ground. The whole song grew out of that first line… I’d always wanted to start a song that way. (I wonder what that says about me?)

‘Fault Lines’ came from a collection of my memories, as opposed to just one, so I’m proud of how cohesive I think it is. I never really had a breakup on the Highway 1, but somehow I’ve been in that incredibly vivid part of the world at times when various relationships were failing. The scenery there provides a sharp, poignant backdrop for end-of-the-world feelings.

Sonically I was inspired by 1990’s pop-rock… the stuff I heard on the radio when I was still riding around in my parents’ car. I think the song reflects that, but with ethereal textures blended into it. Please have a listen! I’m very happy with this version of the tune.

Stream it:

Or listen on YouTube:

youtube

Please tell us about your favorite song written, recorded, or produced by another woman and why it’s meaningful to you.

The last time I stopped in for this interview I talked about Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” which is still and forever a classic favorite of mine. Today the first song that comes to mind is Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain”. It has an undeniable groove that stops my over-thinking brain and lets me forget myself. I love the relatable simplicity of the lyrics. They make me think of every time a sound or a smell has attached itself to one of my memories - it’s fascinating how strong that association can be, where I basically time travel in my head when I smell jasmine or woodsmoke, or hear a song I sang with an old lover, etc. I often attempt to write songs with complicated ideas behind them, but there’s no denying that sometimes simplicity is just the greatest. I also love how they captured the sound of raindrops. And the vocal melody is soulfully ingenious.

What does it mean to you to be a woman making music/in the music business today and do you feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes in your music?

I think it’s safe to say that women are still vastly underrepresented in the music industry (even more so with women of color and minority communities). From what I’ve read, most of the studies on this underrepresentation often focus on highly successful artists, the Grammys, etc. But I can say that in my personal experience as an independent artist, my artistic interactions are overwhelmingly male dominated as well. When I’m the only woman in the room, I’m happy there’s a woman in the room!

When I create music I let my thoughts and feelings dictate what I write. I don’t feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes, no. Instead I feel a responsibility to myself as an artist to create work that is honest, and to continue pushing myself to express my most private and personal thoughts and feelings. Given that I am a woman and experience the world as such, this is inherently tied up in my artistic expressions. I would hope for a world where all women are and feel free to express themselves openly and with authenticity. We’re obviously not there yet. It’s crazy how many feminine experiences are still considered somehow taboo.

What female artists have inspired you and influenced you?

Too many to list! Lately I’ve been slowly working my way through Kate Bush’s song catalogue… I’m caught up in her Aerial double album at the moment. It’s incredible. I tend to write very narrative lyrics, and I’m inspired by her ability to flash from enigmatic, mythological imagery into real life details. It’s hallucinatory. Recently I’ve also been drawing inspiration from Japanese Breakfast, Aoife O'Donovan, Madi Diaz, Phoebe Bridgers, CMAT, and Birdy.

Who's Your Favorite Female Icon(dead or alive) and why?

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is a female icon I’ve delighted in learning more about in recent years. I’d previously admired her beautiful, raw, symbolic paintings, but two years ago I decided to read her biography after seeing an X-Ray of my own spine. I have scoliosis and finally decided to get some physical therapy when my back pain became overwhelming. Seeing the X-Ray of my spine was upsetting, and after I cried about it for a minute I thought, I bet reading Frida’s biography would change my perspective and stop me feeling sorry for myself. I knew she had polio as a child, and then as a young woman she suffered and broken back and many other terrible injuries in a bus/trolley crash, leaving her in pain for the rest of her life. She took up painting while bedridden after her accident, and channeled the pain into her art.

Reading her biography I learned about the origins of her instantly recognizable personal style: she used fashion and her outward appearance to express her Indigenous Mexican heritage, essentially becoming a work of art herself. She challenged traditional norms of gender and sexuality, defying conventional expectations of femininity. Her paintings address deeply personal women’s issues and pain, such as her sexuality and her inability to carry a pregnancy to term, with shocking openness at a time when nobody was doing that. They also address her political stances and cultural heritage. The way she lived her life and created art is incredibly touching and inspiring to me.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit her house in Coyoacan, Mexico City, which is now the Frida Kahlo museum. Seeing her paintings up close, along with her her belongings (her wheelchair, her easel, her back braces and incredible folk style clothing), and walking through the rooms where she walked, gave me goosebumps. If you have the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? If so, why or why not?

I definitely consider myself a feminist, now more than ever, since a woman’s right to bodily autonomy has been decimated in the US. I am lucky enough to live in a state where my right to healthcare, including abortion, is still intact, for now. But we should not be voting on whether women and their doctors get to decide what healthcare a woman needs and when. Our basic rights should not be on the ballot. Women should not have to wait until they are at death’s door to get the help they need. It’s barbaric, disgusting, and devastating. No one is free without bodily autonomy. It’s really tragic that we have to work to undo the same bullshit that our grandmothers and mothers already fought to change, but we must, and we will.

What do you hope to share with other women in the industry with your music?

My songs often end up being related to self empowerment and the rejection of what I’d call fairy-tale romantic ideas. I hope my little story songs will be a drop in the ocean of music encouraging women to choose themselves and their own needs - to express themselves freely and put themselves first.

Finally – Where can we find you online?

Website and Bandcamp

Stream:

Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora, Tidal

Follow:

Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook

#music #indie #interview #pop #rock #kristen rae bowden #Youtube

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independentartistbuzz · 1 month

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7 FROM THE WOMEN WITH KRISTEN RAE BOWDEN

Kristen Rae Bowden is a singer-songwriter whose music captures the raw emotions of love, freedom, and personal growth.

Growing up in a musical family in North Carolina, Kristen’s journey from a self-taught pianist to a recognized music artist in the Americana and indie scenes is inspirational.

In this exclusive interview, Kristen discusses her latest single, "Skateboard," a song that vividly recalls the thrill of young love and the sense of independence she felt during her college years.

She also opens up about her creative process, sharing how her sound has been influenced by artists like Joni Mitchell and Imogen Heap. Collaborating with her partner, guitarist Joe Lawlor, has been a significant part of her recent work.

What have you been working to promote lately?

I am happy to be here promoting my latest single "Skateboard," my exploration of what it felt like to be young and in love and newly on my own.

I wanted to capture a time early in my college days when I had a skateboarding, long-distance boyfriend. We would visit each other at our respective schools, and after I’d had just enough to drink and smoke I’d get brave enough to try and ride a skateboard myself a little bit. Both the skateboarding, and the time in my life, were pure exhilaration… the wind in my hair, being free of a curfew, falling in love… life felt new and full of potential. That’s the feeling we wanted to capture in this song: the uplifting freedom of hot summer nights through the lavender haze of young love.

I co-wrote this song with my musical and romantic partner, guitarist Joe Lawlor (DMB). I heard him playing the opening guitar pattern one night and immediately wanted to sing over it… “Keep doing that!” I yelled from the next room, and the first line just came out of my mouth: “Feeling so high / when you’re driving all night / to my front door”. When I first sang the line, I thought we were writing a pop country song - it’s that type of soaring vocal. Ultimately it turned into an indie-pop tune with folk and alt country elements. We were so lucky to have our friend Dane Alderson (Yellowjackets) play bass on the track, with mixing by John Alagia (Dave Matthews) and Pedro Laet (Mt. Joy), and mastering by Whynot Jansveld (The Wallflowers).

Have a listen!

Please tell us about your favorite song written, recorded or produced by another woman and why it’s meaningful to you.

My favorites change with my moods, but "Canvas" by Imogen Heap is what just came to mind.

This song truly is like a sonic painting, and when I listen to it I feel immersed in another world. The lyrics are pretty abstract, so what I hear in them changes based on what is meaningful to me at the time. There is both peacefulness and a desperation in the words and the soundscape, and this combination resonates with me. It’s ethereal and haunting, like a soundbath. It always takes me out of where I am and puts me on a different plane with a different outlook. I’ve read that Imogen does a lot of her own engineering and production in addition to writing, singing, and playing: that’s inspiring to me. The production here is stunning. This is a song I come back to again and again.

What does it mean to you to be a woman making music/in the music business today and do you feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes in your music?

It’s important for women to have the space, time, and support to express themselves with art. With everything that’s happening in our country and our world, we need that outlet. I’m ridiculously lucky to have the resources and freedom to write and create music. As a woman I feel even luckier in this way because I think women carry so many burdens in their daily lives that having a quiet spare moment alone is a rarity for many.

And no, I don’t feel a responsibility to anyone to put certain messages or themes in my music. It’s hard not to look at what you’re creating through the lens of what other people are going to think and say about it, especially in this age of social media. I think it’s important to create what you want and do your best to forget about all that. I hope the themes in my music lift women up, and that that happens organically. That’s how I feel in my heart, so I hope it spills out when I’m writing.

Who is your favorite female icon (dead or alive) and why?

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is a female icon I’ve delighted in learning more about in recent years. I’d previously admired her beautiful, raw, symbolic paintings, but two years ago I decided to read her biography after seeing an X-Ray of my own crooked spine. After I cried about it for a minute I thought, I bet reading Frida’s biography would change my perspective and stop me feeling sorry for myself. She had polio as a child, and then as a young woman she suffered a broken back and many other terrible injuries in a bus/trolley crash, leaving her in horrible pain for the rest of her life. She took up painting while bedridden after her accident, and channeled the pain into her art.

Her paintings address deeply personal women’s issues and pain, such as her sexuality and her inability to carry a pregnancy to term, with shocking openness at a time when nobody was doing that. They also address her political stances and cultural heritage. The way she lived her life and created art is incredibly touching and inspiring to me.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to visit her house in Coyoacan, Mexico City, which is now the Frida Kahlo museum. Seeing her paintings up close, along with her her belongings (her wheelchair, her easel, her back braces and incredible folk style clothing), and walking through the rooms where she lived, gave me goosebumps. If you have the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Who was the first female artist that made you want to create music / be in the business?

I ran cross country in high school. When I was 15, before I could drive, one of my older teammates would drive a couple of us younger girls to practice after school. She played Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ album in her car all the time. I’d never heard it before, and at first, for some reason, I didn’t like it. I kind of hated it. Something about the timbre of her voice was off putting to me. But after a couple weeks of listening to it, I became obsessed. I started listening to it at home on my own time, and really digging into the lyrics and melodies. To this day, that album gives me flashes of memory from that first summer that I heard it, and all that it has meant to me since then. Joni made me want to write my own songs and put my poems to music.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? If so, why or why not?

Hell yes. No one is free without bodily autonomy. Women all over the world are enduring unspeakable horrors simply because they are women. We need feminist belief and activism as much now as ever.

What do you hope to share with other women in the industry with your music?

Catharsis, solidarity, empathy, and empowerment.

Finally, where can we find you online?

Connect with me all over the web here:

#spotify #music #youtube #indie #new music #interview #indie music #indie artist #rock #pop

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independentartistbuzz · 1 month

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Feel the Rush of Youthful Romance in Kristen Rae Bowden’s New Indie-Pop Single ‘Skateboard’"

Kristen Rae Bowden’s "Skateboard" captures the essence of youthful exuberance, wrapped in a nostalgic indie-pop vibe that feels both fresh and timeless.

From the first strum of Joe Lawlor’s guitar, the song pulls you into a world where summer nights stretch on forever, and every emotion is magnified.

Guitar work is warm and textured, blending clean tones with just enough grit to evoke memories of late-night adventures and the carefree rush of skating under the stars.

Listen in here:

Bowden’s vocals are the heart of the song - tender and sincere, with a touch of vulnerability that makes the lyrics hit home.

She sings about the thrill and uncertainty of first love with a rawness that feels like she’s letting you in on a secret. There’s a timeless quality to her voice, reminiscent of classic folk but with a modern indie twist that keeps the song grounded in the present.

The production on "Skateboard" is both polished and intimate, thanks to the experienced hands of John Alagia and Pedro Laet.

Their work ensures that every element of the track, from the layered guitars to Bowden’s vocals, resonates with clarity and depth. The mix strikes a perfect balance and allows the song to feel expansive while still retaining a sense of closeness, like it’s being played just for you.

More than just a catchy tune, "Skateboard" taps into the universal experience of young love and the fleeting, golden moments that define it.

It’s a song that makes you want to hit replay, not just for the infectious melody, but for the way it captures those feelings we all long to hold onto.

#spotify #music #youtube #indie #new music #indie music #indie artist #pop

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kristenraebowden · 5 years

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Scott and Greg in Chelmsford, England played my song “It Isn’t About You” on their radio show as the first new music of 2020! How freakin cool is that 💥💥💥

Listen at 1:20:00 if ya want 🎶🎵🎶

#kristenraebowden #singersongwriter #piano #kristen rae bowden #musician #singer songwriter #music #radioplay #radioprogram #2020vision

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independentartistbuzz · 6 years

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7 From The Women is a segment here on Independent Artist Buzz where we ask some of the industries finest seven questions. During this time of accusations and the lack thereof, we think it’s important to give women a voice. We chose to ask seven questions to honor the seven Wiccan clans.

Kristen Rae Bowden is a beautiful turmoil of tenderness and willfulness. It’s a paradoxical sentiment also evident in her artistic sensibilities. In her upcoming debut, Language and Mirrors, she fluidly, and authentically, inhabits earthy Americana and majestic orchestral rock.

What have you been working to promote lately?

In November 2018 I released my first album, entitled “Language and Mirrors.” On March 15 2019 I will release my first music video from the album. The video is for my song “It Isn’t About You.”

I wrote “It Isn’t About You” while living in a screened-in-shack with no power on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was 22, fresh from college, excited by the idea of living “off the grid”, and very much in love with a young man whose family owned land in Hawaii. After we moved there, however, our relationship quickly deteriorated, practically turning to dust before my eyes. I felt powerless to save it, or leave.

I found myself on a metaphorical island, as well as a real one, and my feeling of isolation stemmed from my obsession with the unhealthy relationship. It became difficult for me to imagine myself outside of it; I no longer felt whole on my own.

Even without electricity, I remained a night owl. I stayed up alone in the tiny dark house on the edge of the jungle, drinking wine, and writing poetry by candlelight. This is how I wrote “It Isn’t About You”: as part of a long, freeform poem. (It is one of my only songs where I wrote the lyrics first.)

Later, I put the poem to music, after I finally got the courage to leave the relationship, and I’d steadied my mind. The song is about making that return to yourself and your own joys, strengths, and needs. It is also about taking responsibility for your own choices, so that you never feel (unnecessarily) like a victim, and you can move on.

The music video for “It Isn’t About You” will premiere on Facebook Premiere on Friday March 15 at 1:00 pm.

Please tell us about your favorite song written, recorded or produced by another woman and why it’s meaningful to you.

I think, after all these years, my favorite track written by a woman is still Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”. The melody starts out conversational, understated, and then it soars! The simplicity of the instrumentation creates such an intimate experience, you feel like she’s in your living room, singing right in your ear. You hear every word, which is perfect because her lyrics go straight to the heart.

The beauty of the poem alone overwhelms me. Joni has a way of writing lyrics that are very specific to her own experience, and full of imagery, but when I listen to them, I feel like they are about me too. Much like an abstract painting where different people will see different things, Joni’s artful words allow you to color them with your own experience. This makes me feel truly known, and comforted somehow as a human being, because I know I’m not alone.

What does it mean to you to be a woman making music/in the music business today and do you feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes in your music?

When I decided I wanted to become a career musician, I didn’t think at all about my gender. I just knew I wanted to make music; that’s all I thought about.

Now, I believe that as a woman in the music industry, I have the opportunity to showcase a more feminine (as in the divine) incarnation of strength. As a culture I think we view strength in a very masculine way; it often means hardness, stoicism. I believe we tend to ignore the strength that it takes to be vulnerable... the strength that lies in open-heartedness and flexibility. After all, a branch that cannot bend is more likely to break. In my songs, I find myself wanting to express this: how brave one must be to remain open-hearted. I think it is something I have to offer that has to do with my womanhood and femininity.

When I write I honestly don’t feel a responsibility to create certain messages and themes in my music. I write according to my feelings, so those end up being the messages and themes. However, when I write a song about a certain moment in my life, I definitely listen critically to the song and ask myself what kind of message it is going to send into the world.

Once I wrote a song about a previous boyfriend cheating on me with a girl who I really thought was my friend. They both lied to me about it for several weeks. It was overwhelmingly hurtful. Some men say they have a “bro’s code” to not let women come between them. So, I wrote this song about the lack of a “girls code”, and basically sang about how I knew my boyfriend at the time was going to lie to me, that was obvious. But I never expected my woman friend to be a part of it, sneaking around and lying to me also.

Later I realized I couldn’t release the song, because of the message one might take from it. My lyrics ended up sounding too much like a woman who blames the other woman when her significant other lies to her, instead of holding him responsible, and also taking responsibility for the choice she has made to be with him. What that particular “friend” did to me was unkind, but I don’t ever want to sound like a woman who puts other women down as a group. I didn’t want to risk being interpreted in that way.

I hope to be a voice of catharsis, empowerment, and empathy.

What is the most personal thing you have shared in your music or in your artist brand as it relates to being female?

My most personal song is “My Father’s Daughter”. My Dad was an extremely charismatic, artistic, and captivating man. He was also quite the womanizer. He passed away when I was 18, and I still miss him every single day.

I think as a girl, when you grow up with a Dad who is your absolute favorite person, but over time you learn about some of his negative proclivities, you’ll have some kind of emotional reaction. And the reaction will be based (at least in part) on how you are his daughter. If you were his son, you might respond quite differently.

“My Father’s Daughter” is really about me getting into a relationship with a man who had also lost his artistic (and womanizing) father. He had a daddy-backstory similar to mine, but he had responded in a completely different way. We could understand each other better in some ways due to the similarities in our respective Dads’ personalities, but in other ways we really had no hope of ever understanding each other.

The song also has to do with the fact that sometimes, there is no stronger bond than shared grief.

I think this is the most personal thing I’ve written as it relates to being female, because it’s specific to what we would call “Daddy issues”. Anyone can have Daddy issues, regardless of their gender, but being female definitely effects how these complicated feelings play out in one’s life. This is true for me, at least.

What female artists have inspired you and influenced you?

So many! I’ve already mentioned Joni Mitchell. I just finished reading “Just Kids” and Patti Smith is a poetic hero. Others include Joan Jett, Nina Simone, Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin, Patsy Cline, Erykah Badu, Zap Mama, Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Stevie Nicks, Carole King, Amy Winehouse, Bjork, Lady Gaga, Billie Holiday, Ani DiFranco, and Tracy Chapman.

Who was the first female artist you saw that made you want to create music / be in the business?

When I was 19, my sister and I went to see Ani DiFranco. I remember loving how the audience was overwhelmingly female, right as I walked in. I noted to myself how rare it is to be in the company of mostly women, at least for me. Ani sang her songs and I think everyone in the theater was affected, you could just feel it in the air. I laughed and I cried. I marveled at how she connected with each member of the audience personally ; she made each of us feel like we’d met her. Each of her songs consistently blew me away with her confessional storytelling. She stirred my emotions and completely inspired me.

The next night I went into a practice room at my college, played the piano, and wrote my first real song. I didn’t mean to write it ; it surprised me. It was about my Dad dying, which had happened about a year before. I scribbled it on a cocktail napkin that I’ve saved ever since.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? If so why and if not why?

I definitely consider myself a feminist. Women deserve equal rights and bodily autonomy, period. I grew up very privileged, in a community/culture that told me I could be anything I wanted, so I have to admit I was rather shocked to find out that some people still think women aren’t supposed to do certain jobs or have certain roles in life. I also grew up in a very homogenous community. For a long time I was very ignorant when it comes to the idea of intersectional feminism, and I still have a lot to learn about how feminism can exclude the experiences and points of view of women of color and LGBTQ women. It is important to me to be an ally to all women, especially those in minority communities, as they are the ones who are most effected by sexism and discrimination. Learning how to be a good ally is an ongoing process, and I consider it my responsibility to educate myself about issues outside of my personal experience. All in all, I am a feminist because women are still so marginalized, all over the world. Women’s rights are human rights, and as long as things remain unbalanced, this deserves our constant attention.