Friday, February 06, 2009

Kath Bloom


Whether or not Kath Bloom will "do a Vashti", I am not so sure, but it is a joy to see an artist like this begin to get the appreciation and attention that she deserves. And the Kath Bloom appreciation society is sure to grow in the coming months with the release of the forthcoming record 'Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom', which features a disc of covers by the likes of Bill Callahan, Devendra Banhart, Josephine Foster, Meg Baird and Scout Niblett, alongside a second disc of the Bloom originals.

The daughter of world-renowned oboist Robert Bloom, Kath Bloom was born and raised in New Haven, CT, where she initially trained as a cellist before taking up the guitar. After meeting and beginning a relationship with avant-garde guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors in 1976, the two teamed up for a series of recordings spanning a number of years; of their out-put - some records were released in editions of as few as 50, most no more than 300 copies, until the duo released their final collaboration in 1984. Bloom took a sabbatical from music and "entered a period of child-rearing and family life".

Bloom began to make music again in the early 1990s, self-releasing a number of cassettes and CD-Rs. It was around this time that the film director Richard Linklater discovered Bloom’s music and featured the song "Come Here" in his 1995 movie 'Before Sunrise'. After an initial flurry of interest, little came of the exposure, indeed it was not until ten years later that Bloom's music hit a wider audience, with the release of the album 'Finally' on Chapter Music in 2006.

Ahead of the release of 'Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom', Bloom will be playing a few shows in the US, including a couple in Californa with SOTR favorites Little Wings & Be-Gulls.


MP3: Kath Bloom & Loren Connors - The Breeze/My Baby Cries
MP3: Kath Bloom & Loren Connors - It's So Hard To Come Home

MP3: Bill Callahan - The Breeze/My Baby Cries(Kath Bloom Cover)

Kath Bloom on Myspace
Support The Artist. Buy.Buy.Buy

(see comments section below for bonus track)

2 comments:

Sweetheart Of The Radio said...

Kath Bloom - Come Here
Link: http://www.box.net/shared/static/45xshmfj08.mp3

Anonymous said...

so happy to see this link is still up. just came across callahan's cover, which is the most touching thing i've heard from him since 'a river ain't too much.' hadn't heard of kath bloom before this, but i love both of these songs.