Katie Gregson-MacLeod on major label success: 'I didn’t feel crazy imposter syndrome'
On the eve of finally releasing her debut album Albatross, the Invernesian musician talks to Danny Munro about the pitfalls of major label attention, getting back in the writing zone and why she’d kill for a tuna melt
Congratulations on your debut album Albatross. What was the recording process like? I went to Frome to work with a producer called Dom Monks, who I’d been a big fan of for a long time. I just never really thought he was someone that was even in my world. His last few records at that point had been the new Laura Marling record, Billie Marten, Big Thief. So in my head, the win would be for him to even like the music enough to make it, you know? And he was up for it. I ended up taking a few players to Frome and we stayed there for two weeks. It felt like the really contained, intense, saturated, fast process that I really wanted it to be. Everything was recorded live, the guitar and vocals were recorded together. A lot of the time, the take that Dom chose was the first one we’d done as a band ever… that was what I was looking for. I was looking for moments that could only have happened in that room on that day with those people.
Could you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind that album title? So actually, I credit Ellie [fellow singer-songwriter Elanor Moss] with that. She alluded to ‘The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’. It’s a long poem, they’re going through all kinds of strife and the albatross appears as this symbol of good fortune; the mariner shoots the albatross and then is forced to wear it around his neck as a symbol of his burden, his guilt. So that came up in this conversation of having this amazing thing and then kind of rejecting it and carrying it with you as a burden, instead of it being the jewel in my pocket, which in the song ‘Daughter’ I allude to.
After your track ‘Complex’ went viral in 2022, you were quickly signed to a major label and upended your student life to move to London. How do you reflect on that period now that you’re back in Scotland and detached from the major label world? It felt good. I didn’t feel crazy imposter syndrome while that was happening. I felt very secure and comfortable initially. But I didn’t really have the same connection to the core thing, which was the songwriting, the music and the making of music. As much as I was given all this stuff on a plate, I kind of needed less. I don’t know what my next album is going to sound like or what I’m going to write next, but I do know what feeling to avoid: the feeling of discomfort or this disconnect. I’m just now in a place where I’m very lucky to have a really great, small fanbase who I’ve been touring to a lot, who come to shows; I’m always surprised by the people that turn up in cities I’ve never even been to.
What were you listening to while writing the album? I was trying not to listen to too much heavily contemporary music. I feel my most inspired while listening to people that I think are the greats. And so I went back to lots of Leonard Cohen, [Bob] Dylan, Joni [Mitchell], Bridget St John, Carole King; Elliott Smith on the later end of things.
Have you got a busy rest of the year? You know what, it’s pretty relaxed, which is nice. I’ve been on tour a lot the last couple of years: a lot for me. And contradictory to where I am with the album release, I’m feeling like I’m in a big writing zone right now, which I was not expecting to be.
You were on tour for two and a half months straight last year. What does your rider look like? We’ve actually started to just keep it really minimal. Basically, if I’m not driving: red wine, raspberries, crisps and hummus. It’s super stripped-back. But on tour with Bonnie [Kemplay], we were like, ‘just give us the cash and we’ll buy a pint.’
You have a well-documented fondness for tuna melt sandwiches. I have to ask, how do you make the perfect melt? Well [if I told you], I would have to kill you!
Katie Gregson-MacLeod: Albatross is released by Last Recordings On Earth on Friday 6 November; main picture: Sam Hiscox.