Artist: Kathrin deBoer
Title: EP 1
Formats:10” Vinyl + HQ Download (WAV)
Record Label: Gearbox Records
Release Date: 1st July 2014

For all press enquiries please contact Dom Christophers at AirMTM
dom@airmtm.com / 020 7386 1607 / 07736 039 031

Belleruche singer goes solo with a 4-part series of 10inch vinyl EPs,
recorded and released by analogue vinyl-only record label, Gearbox
Records.

In 2013, ‘handmade hip-hop-blues/soul’ group Belleruche decided to call it
a day, the close-knit trio making the decision to pursue individual
creative and personal avenues after eight hardworking, exhilarating and
globetrotting years and 4 critically acclaimed albums on Brighton’s
Tru-Thoughts label.

Following the amicable split, lead singer Kathrin deBoer, already a
talented multi-instrumentalist, decided to pick up the bass guitar. She
was the beneficiary of an old Fender P Frankenstein bass called Annie and
in under a year, with a little tuition from punk rocker friends, she set
out on her first solo live gigs armed with a plethora of new material.
Backed by a drummer and viola player, deBoer performed to spellbound
crowds at London’s Jazz Café and The Elgin in Camden, and it was here that
London’s foremost vinyl-only label Gearbox Records came calling.

With a commitment to put the ritual back in to music listening, Gearbox
has hitherto focused on releasing extremely high quality and previously
unreleased vinyl cuts, however as soon as he heard deBoer’s work Darrel
Sheinman, owner of Gearbox Records, decided to sign Kathrin. "I first
worked with Kathrin on a recent Max Cooper project we did, and her exotic
voice, which has such perfect pitch, blew me away. When I heard she was
going solo, I put my hat in the ring to give her the Gearbox treatment,
and hey presto, she has decided to come along on the journey. We are going
to have fun!”

Based in Kings Cross’ Tileyard studios complex, which also plays host to
Mark Ronson, Sub Focus and more, Gearbox records live in a completely
analogue environment, from studio to tape, then tape direct to vinyl. This
approach suited deBoer perfectly - her solo work is an altogether more
poetic approach to songwriting than in previous projects, and the pared
back arrangements give her remarkable voice space to roam. Says deBoer,
“As an artist you have the luxury and responsibility to be truthful to
yourself, to the melody, the rhythm and the songs story, I try to find and
weave a silver lining in each song. Recording and mixing in one take takes
skill from everyone involved beyond the musicians, it’s exciting, you have
to think fast, flow, perform and accept the 'imperfections' and think of
the music as a whole, accept the moment, the recordings don't lie!”

The 4 tracks across EP1, the first of a series of 10” Vinyl releases for
the Gearbox label, see deBoer explore topics such as the blurred lines
between friends and lovers (‘Something Said’) or being the pawn in someone
else’s mind games (‘Not For Me’). Though these are not songs of love as
seen through the rose-tinted naïveté of an old romantic, deBoer presents
the complexities of human relationship with all its flaws, something she
was keen to reflect in the recording process: “To lose ones individuality,
the small faults, essentially the humanness in the recording phase, to be
edited to 'perfection' leaves me a bit cold.”

The decision to release on vinyl was also a relatively simple one for
deBoer: "Multitracking, compression, buckets of production has lead to
some great albums but the downside in its wake is the homogenization of
sound and music production. It sounds better, vinyl sounds better, and
analogue is better. That’s all really, that’s why we do it."
For Gearbox, this signing marks a new chapter in their repertoire. It is
the first time they have worked with an artist whose career development
fits closely with the label’s own frontline vision to take on artists with
roots in jazz/soul and mix in an eclectic range of influences for
something entirely unique.

Buy Vinyl

Kathrin deBoer - Knitbone

Founded in 2009, Gearbox is a vinyl-led record label, mastering and vinyl-cutting studio and turntable manufacturer situated in London and Tokyo. What started out as a focus on previously-unreleased archival jazz recordings,  (including Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, and Yusef Lateef), has now branched into contemporary jazz, electronic music, and folk. 

Output includes London jazz duo Binker and Moses, Indian percussionist and tabla-player Sarathy Korwar, tubist Theon Cross, and American jazz and funk five-piece Butcher Brown.