Creature Comforts is a celebration of rejects. I wrote eight of the 12 tracks on this record over the course of 2020–2021, when I felt seriously off my game as a songwriter—emotionally bowled over by pandemic lockdown isolation and extremely disconnected from my ability to express myself artistically, at least in a way I deemed worthy of publication.

I continued to write, waiting for stronger sparks to return, but ultimately regarded my ideas during that period as lame and empty. I figured they were just dirty water pouring out of the spigot in an old house before you get to the good, clean, mineral-rich stuff. Eventually, the muse in whom I was willing to place a steadier faith returned, and I left those “dirty water” compositions behind, swearing to myself that they were permanently undeserving of public ears.

And yet, in early 2023, I was in search of new material to release and feeling quite a bit lazy about the idea of creating it from scratch. I revisited my old notebooks from those aforementioned years, and discovered, on second thought, that maybe some of those songs weren’t half bad. I brought them to my drummer, Ramsey Jones, who whipped up some magic in rehearsals, and just like that, we had what we needed to record what then became this album.

Oh, plus “Shame,” which I wrote in 2019 and thought I would simply never release—far too raw—“Shut Up Socrates,” which I wrote in 2013—yes!—but didn’t have the means to record until now, and “Ludwig van,” another one I wrote several years back, and just hadn’t found a place for until I decided this collection was as good as any. Special thanks to my friend T2Kazuya for producing it so masterfully that you are going to hate how much you love it. (St. James Infirmary is just a favorite traditional which I came across in an old Max Fleischer cartoon that featured the Cab Calloway performance of it.)

I’m very proud to share these former rejects, now glowing debutantes, with you in the way they were always meant to be. I hope they will introduce you to a new aspect of my art in a fresh and entertaining way.

Thanks for listening,
—Kate

1. Cornerstone
2. Death Doesn't Knock
3. Little Spiders
4. Monster
5. Nothing to Show
6. Hollow Poetry
7. Half Mast
8. Shame
9. Wild Animals
10. Shut Up Socrates
11. Ludwig van (feat. T2Kazuya)
12. St. James Infirmary (Traditional)

All songs written by Kate Koenig except where noted
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Kevin Ramsay at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center in Soho, NY
© 2024 Creature Comforts

Personnel:
Kate Koenig - vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, piano (tracks 2, 5, 8)
Ramsey Jones - drum set
Dan Ricker - piano (track 1)
Joe Moffett - trumpet (tracks 2, 6, 10)
T.J. Borden - cello (tracks 6, 8, 9, 10)
Nat Ranson - trombone (track 10)
Pauline Kim Harris - violin, viola (track 10)
T2Kazuya - production (track 11)

Shut Up Socrates

Wild Animals

Shame

Half-Mast

Hollow Poetry

Nothing to Show

Monster

Little Spiders

Death Doesn't Knock

Cornerstone