Don’t let Strange Behavior’s release date 10 months after Katy Pinke’s self-titled debut fool you—the NYC-based multidisciplinary artist and avant-folk songwriter’s new album is much more than a collection of songs left on the cutting room floor. It may sound insulting to even insinuate that that’s the case, but Pinke is open about the fact that she had a hard time working these nine compositions into her first album, if only due to the fact that the subject matter presented within them felt a little bit too raw a year ago at this time. Fortunately, with a little more buffer, Pinke ultimately felt comfortable setting these songs to tape, sharing with us the personal journey that has become Strange Behavior.
“Many of the songs on this album are ones that I was initially embarrassed by because of their vulnerability, or because they were voices that arose in me that I didn’t want to identify with publicly,” she shares. “So I sat on them for a long time. Finally recording and performing them has been a practice in letting those parts of me/my past be who they are. I listened to them, let them tell me how they wanted to be recorded, produced, and shared. I grew to love them. I still feel vulnerable sharing them, but I was able to alchemize painful experiences, moments of being hard on myself or on life, into these whacky, kaleidoscopic odes to human imperfection. And that was a beautiful gift to experience, and a teacher for me.”
With the album officially dropping tomorrow, we’ve got an exclusive first listen below. Additionally, if you’re in NYC, you can catch the album release show on February 25 at Brooklyn’s Sultan Room. It is evidently a puppet show.
