After easing out singles and growing anticipation, Kate Teague is announcing the release of her debut EP on Muscle Beach Records available everywhere September 20th and sharing a stripped down video for “Low Life”. The simple, yet beautiful, video with just Teague and her guitar strips away the soaring instrumentals and showcases Teague’s emotion packed vocal delivery turning the bright shimmer of the EP version down for this intimate performance. Teague’s EP will be available on a limited vinyl pressing of 500 copies, find the preorder here.
Kate Teague hasn’t been resting on her laurels since she first released “Low Life”, between supporting and sharing bills with Lucy Dacus, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Hayley Heynderickx, Hovvdy, Helena Deland, MUNYA, and Barrie, two national tours with Julie Odell and French For Rabbits, not to mention producing Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, which brings together authors and musical performances in Oxford, MS, Teague and her band have been flexing their muscle around the country. Last year, Muscle Beach released a 7”, consisting of “Good To You” and “Low Life”, as well as a Record Store Day 7″ earlier this spring featuring a solo version of “In Our Element” benefiting local charity Oxford Memory Makers.
“This debut EP is very bittersweet for me. It seems appropriate that it’s coming out when it is, because I think it sums up the last four years in Oxford post-college, and that chapter is coming to a close for me now. I’m so thankful to have an outlet that allows me to press pause on moments in that timeframe, and remember how I felt, but it’s also really hard for me to recognize that those days are over with and I have to move on. I think releasing this EP is the perfect way to come to terms with that, and to celebrate this next phase of my life.” – Kate Teague
Teague has released four impeccable singles since she came on the scene in 2018. She’s been building excitement since her first single dropped, being lauded by Gorilla Vs. Bear, The Fader, Paste, DIY, The 405, Line of Best Fit, GoldFlakePaint, FLOOD Magazine, Refinery29 and London In Stereo among many more. Her last single, “In Our Element” embraced a more low-key, twang-adjacent sound to her previous single, the yacht-meets-slacker rock, “Gilly”, a catchy and emotionally raw ode to a loved one, trying to console them anyway you can while her second single, “Good To You,” is an upbeat summer jam, guided by Teague’s precise, emotive guitar lines and a disco-infused rhythm section. The track is a rumination on our self-examination, specifically when it bites us in the ass. “Good To You” followed on the heels of her debut single, the laid-back slacker “Low Life”, which first showcased Teague’s incredible, raw, soaring and emotion-packed vocals.
Kate Teague claims she’s not a poet. “I’m just trying to be as real as possible,” Teague says from Oxford, Mississippi. When you’re making a name for yourself writing and performing songs in William Faulkner’s hometown, it may be a healthy distinction. It’s also not entirely true.
Teague does draw from her own life and from those close to her. She mines lived experience ranging from heartbreak to misread body language to misogyny for honest, concise reflection. At 25, to quote another Southern writer, she’s made of wise blood. It runs through all these songs. “My songs are like journal entries,” Teague says of the six tracks that make up her debut self-titled EP, which was recorded at Memphis’ Delta Sonic by veteran producer Clay Jones. “And I rarely filter myself.” But, tethered to silky melodies, those sharply observed, plainspoken verses belie the daydream cadences, the lush arrangements, and Teague’s clear, graceful voice in ways that do verge on the poetic.
Stream her music on Spotify, Apple Music & Bandcamp