Katie Ellen’s debut album, 2017’s Cowgirl Blues, saw frontwoman Anika Pyle kicking against the traditions and norms that come with adulthood—namely, love, major life changes, cohabitation, and domesticity. She penned the anti-marriage anthem with “Sad Girls Club,” a standout track that featured the defiant heartbreaker of a chorus: “Sad girls don’t make good wives.” On the Philly band’s new, five-song EP, Still Life, Pyle is still trying to wrap her head around these things.
On opener “Lighthouse,” Pyle reckons with warring thoughts—wanting to be brave enough to swim into life’s uncharted deep end, but feeling tied down by the anchor of fear and anxiety. Later, on the EP’s title track, she surrenders to the idea that love is more powerful and wild than our capacity to tame it: “You can’t make love stay / Do your best to hold it in place.”
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Musically, Pyle flexes a few new tricks she’s trying out, like on “Still Life,” where her voice spirals into borderline operatic delivery, a far jump from the quick and dirty style she cut her teeth on in her former pop punk project Chumped.
Still Life is out on July 20 from Lauren Records. Stream the EP below and pre-order it right here. Katie Ellen is on tour soon with Lemuria and Dusk. Dates below.
Katie Ellen Tour Dates with Lemuria and Dusk
7/22 – Pittsburg, PA @ Mr. Roboto*
7/23 – Bloomington, IN @ The Blockhouse*
7/25 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
7/26 – St Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
7/27 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
7/29 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
7/30 – Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
7/31 – Billings, MT @ Pub Station
8/02 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
8/03 – Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
8/04 – Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore
8/05 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
8/07 – Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
8/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
8/09 – Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s
8/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
8/11 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
8/12 – Las Vegas, NV @ Beauty Bar
*No Lemuria and Dusk
