Written during the first 2020 lockdown where I found freedom in the confinement of my four wallsyoga and chanting mantras at dawn whilst on a kundalini yoga teacher training.

"Ong namo guru dev namo" roughly translates to "I bow to the teacher within" and is chanted at the beginning of every day and every time we practice yoga. This mantra was like a light in the darkness and, while the world went through the crisis of the pandemic, chanting this helped me find a strength and resilience I never knew I had.

This song was inspired by the bliss of those early mornings waking with the sunrise, looking out over Bristol from my bedroom windows, watching the birds dance across the sky and singing with the dawn chorus.

Sunrise (Ong namo)

One of the first songs I ever wrote, produced by Malcolm Bruce many years ago, remastered by David Mountain of The Attic Sounds in 2021.

Avalon (Remastered)

Song Of Songs

When will you rise out of the tomb you hold dear
And see me, see me?
Open your eyes and see the path is clear,
Believe me, believe me

My wayward heart is pure
And through the ages it has always been sure,
Bring down the wall!
Let it fall!

I built these walls so I could hide in fear,
You free me so easily.
I always drove away the one that I most want near,
Don't leave me! Don't leave me!

My wayward heart is pure
And through the changes it has always been sure,
Bring down the wall! We could have it all

Release my soul, receive my love,
Relieve my wondering wayward heart.
Release my soul, receive my love,
Relieve my wondering wayward heart.

Bring down the wall! Free us all!

My Wayward Heart Recording 08 10 2013 11 37

God Speed Me demo

Sunkissed

The first song I recorded myself, lost on an old hard drive and rediscovered in my dear friend Lara Lewington's music collection years later.

Will You Stay

I was blessed to get some quality time with Raz Olsher in the wonderful Fossil Studios and we made this banging remix of one of my old favourites from back in the day.

Roads - Portshead (Raz Olsher Remix)

A sensual musical journey with the incredible Jason Kalidas into... coffee

Recorded on my phone during a rehearsal for my Guildhall Leadership Masters final project in 2013

Guildhall

Coffee

And the river is calling my name 
Through the valley where the sparrow hawks plays
And the water it shows me the way to go
It shows me the way

This is where I long to be
Under the canopy of trees
The sound of the water carries me
It carries me

And the river is calling my name 
Through the valley where the sparrow hawks plays
And the water it shows me the way to go
It shows me the way

Bruised and broken, a refugee
From the shadows of the city
Carrying nothing but the ashes of my dreams
And these memories

This is where I am free
Down by the river in the green valley
Singing the song the water sings to the trees
A song of peace

And the river is calling my name
Through the valley where the wild doves play
And the water it shows me the way to go
It shows me the way

There I'll be where the river knows me
Where the river holds me close and the water flows free
Where my spirit overflows and all the pain leaves me
Where my fear is just an overcoat
And I lose it far behind me
Walking through the valley til I'm free
By the River Dart

And the river is calling my name 
Through the valley where the sparrow hawks plays
And the water it shows me the way to go
It shows me the way

*****
Recorded, mixed and produced by Stevan Krakovic (cowshedstudio.com)
Mastered by Ray Staff at Air Studios
Written by Kat Drake
Vocals, acoustic guitar and shaker by Kat Drake
Organ, piano and strings by Grace Banks
Lead guitar by Paul White
Double bass by Tom Mansi
Drums and percussions by James Johnston

The River Dart

And so the story goes
The open window
Through the curtain of the night
Out of touch and out of sight

In the corner of my room 
Roses start to bloom
By the light of the moon

Hear me, can you hear me
In the dark?
My beating heart

See me, can you see me
In the dark?
Distant star

And when that curtain falls
And the restless nightbird calls
From just beyond the walls

Hear me, can you hear me
In the dark?
My beating heart

See me, can you free me
In the dark?
Burning star

Reach me, can you teach me
In the dark?
My wounded heart

Heal me, can you feel me
In the dark?
Brightest star

Hear me, can you hear me
In the dark?

Credits:
Recorded, mixed and produced by Stevan Krakovic (cowshedstudio.com) 
Mastered by Ray Staff at Air Studios 
Written by Kat Drake 
Vocals, acoustic guitar and shaker by Kat Drake 
Organ, piano and strings by Grace Banks 
Lead guitar by Paul White 
Double bass by Tom Mansi 
Drums and percussions by James Johnston

In The Dark

A Universe Of Love

Ice (no light inside)

Acoustic version of Singh Kaur's This Universe - a song that really helped me to find a way out of a prison I'd once found myself and begin to walk in the direction of the life of my dreams. Singh Kaur is Snatam Kaur's mother.

This Universe By Singh Kaur

This has been one of my all time favourite songs forever it seems. Portishead were a major influence on me and this song just says it all.

Glorybox

Portishead's Glorybox Acoustic Cover by Kat Drake

The Queen of the Forest (Peter's recording)

Recordings

Heaven In The Dark recording April 2017

Blue-grey eyes

Over At The Frankenstein Place Solstice Special

One day I’ll produce this with a name and it will be  full on funky but for now here’s me on my lonesome with my guitar recorded in my bedroom on my phone 

I wrote this after a particularly painful break up

Anthem (Leonard Cohen cover)

Written, performed and recorded by me a year or two ago in my bedroom. This song is still in development...

Lay Me Down Cubase demo

A song I wrote at the start of my relationship with Kayvan in 2006, and recorded for a fundraising CD for a sustainable development charity called Embercombe. I recorded with the very talented producer Stevan Krakovic in about 2008. 

Lyrics:

Come with my down to the harbour
Let's watch the boats sailing in
And then board one bound for the far shore
Far from places we've been

And I know that this won't be a journey 
Like any we've taken before
There'll be no turning back when the high winds
Tare at the sail and the door

So hold my love,
Don't let go, my love,
Who can know what their end will be?

And I will hold your love,
I won't let go of your love,
What we sow, my love, we reap

There's no turning back to the pastures
Places where we once grew
No more can we hide in the heather
And wake in the morning dew

But over the sea there's a temple
Of coppice and lily-white rags
Where the candle light glows through the darkness
And that's where you'll take my hand

So hold my love...

Soon we'll be scaling those mountain peaks
That used to seem lifetimes beyond
Though the nights will be cold and the snow deep
We will rise with the birds and the dawn

So hold my love...

Hold my love, my love, hold on

Hold my Love

Gini's Pond

Lyrics:

I will bow down before the moon
I will lay my life before the mountain
To still the silver loom
That weaves this spell

Across the desert sands
The dark terror is approaching
To take revenge upon the guilty hands
That spilt blood on holy lands

Within the bounds of these very shores
The white terror is working
Behind guarded doors
It weaves its hell

O Avalon! Come to our aid
With this song we invoke the Ancient Ones!

I'll not bow down before that loom
I'll not weave my life into the poisoned dream
For the time has come to choose
And renew the cycle of the moon

O Avalon! Come to our aid
With this song we invoke the Ancient Ones!

Composed and performed by Kat Drake
Piano and string accompaniment composed and performed by Malcolm Bruce
Recorded by Malcolm Bruce

Avalon

This is a hiphop version of one of my songs, featuring my brother rapping and produced by our friend Louis. 

It's an apocalyptic lovesong. I'm making a video for it at the moment with a little help from my friends...

Written and sung by me, rap by MC Baraka Shambala, produced by DJ Downlow.

Copyright Kat Drake & Baraka Shambala 2011

Be My Beloved (a lovesong for the end of the world)

A song I wrote after coming back from Argentina this December 2012... Beautiful country, beautiful people, beautiful awakening it initiated inside me...

Lyrics:
falling into my heart
falling into my heart
it's a dream that's more than just a dream
faster than waterfall love

falling into my heart
falling into my heart
and it means more than what it seems
deeper than an underground flood

falling into my heart
falling into my heart
so free, a fountain flowing through me
wilder than white water love

Falling into my heart

I love this song by Peia! It brings back many happy memories of playing it at singing circles and ceremonies. It often gets people up on their feet dancing!

My best memory of this was an amazing flowering soul cacao ceremony with Karen Burt in Brighton a number of years ago... Here's to a time when we can all gather again and "dance on this ground with the rhythm of saints to carry the sound"...

Blessed We Are (Peia acoustic cover)

Lyrics:

One whole stadium a second cut down,
Not for playing football - they're just levelling the ground
To make way for the Final Frontier of the Free,
To make way for the billboards to tell us what we need,

And who knows? I may not see the close of this show
Though there's hope, it seems to come and go
'Cos when the tide turns, there's a 50/50 chance I won't float

And there'll be no conversation when the phones all die
No negotiation when the wells run dry
There'll be no compensation when the sea levels soar - 
The changes in the weather somehow seem to be ignored

And me, I'm like you, there's always too much to do
I'm just one in six billion troubling through
Just one more vacant expression on the tube
The cost of living's rising and the competition too

And who knows? I may not see the close of this show
Though there's hope, it seems to come and go, Oh!
And who knows? The scene may change
We may all find heaven down the Yellow Brick Road
So there's hope, but it comes and it goes
'Cos when the tide comes in, there's a 50/50 chance I won't

See the sun at the end of the tunnel, the Pear Tree of Second Chances
I know that I told you, "if anything happens, I'll meet you under it's branches"
But I'm caught in this game, too much is at stake
And my plans have all been foiled -
Seeing the branches cut and the fruit in the store being spoiled
And the figures of blood for oil are somehow lost in the filing system
As time passing covers all the things that used to matter to me

And I may not see the close of this show
Though there's hope it seems to come and go, Oh!
And who knows? I may not see the close of this show
Though there's hope it seems to come and go
'Cos when the tide turns there's a 50/50 chance I won't float.

(Special thanks to Robin Grey for producing this song and for beautiful guitar playing!)

50 50 Chance

You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you. (Isadora Duncan)

katdrake

Popular tracks