Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull, Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through her music. Her writing, and most notably her guitar playing, stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, Michael Chapman and John Martyn weave into her sound. Katie absorbs these influences into her songwriting and with her distinctive deep vibrato and crystal-clear guitar style, she makes the music inimitably her own.
What Is Love was produced by Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, The Staves). Recorded in London’s Urchin Studios, it features prominent players Giacomo Smith (clarinet), Max Clilverd (pedal steel), Tom Mason (double bass) and Matt Ingram (drums, synth). The album evokes the spirit of Joni Mitchell’s finest later works, always honouring without emulating. Lyrically mature and at times pastoral, the album is melodically sophisticated and unflinchingly honest.