KIM LOGAN FLAUNTS AN exquisite sultry voice, sexy lion mane of hair, rocker vibe and songs that make us feel like we're throwing back a moonshine at a cool blues bar. Her 2013 self-titled debut album, Kim Logan, is what first caught our attention. "Black Magic Boy" bears a retro soul sound and just enough witchy vibe to make us instant fans. The entire record sweeps us up into a jazzy swamp stomp airboat ride through the Delta, Logan's smooth and soulful voice enticing us with precision and force.
This year (2020) Logan released Shadow Work, a gem of an album that points evermore to her Delta roots. If the first album was covered in a sweet swamp mud, Logan's sophomore effort is the polished diamond that she dug out of it. In this record, she has honed her signature sound and matured her delivery with more of a robust rock and roll sound. The record showcases Logan's gorgeous velvety voice backed by her band, The Silhouettes, reviving the sound of 1960s and 1970s. But our favorite songs have a sort of twang that only comes out of Delta blues rock. Originally from Florida — but currently residing in Paris, France — Kim Logan tells Deitra about her songwriting inspiration, her love of opera and her views on changing the music industry.
Rock, Psych, Blues
Song Submitted: “Black Magic Boy”
GREETINGS FROM THE ARTIST: Hey Deitra Magazine folks! Thank you for selecting me through the ReverbNation CONNECT program. Looking forward to discussing with you my brand new album, Shadow Work.
MUSICAL BACKGROUND: I started classical vocal training, and singing opera professionally when I was nine. It sounds like a crazy thing, but it was actually the most natural process ever... I told my parents I wanted to be a singer and they just wanted to make sure I was learning properly. I became completely obsessed with opera and didn’t stop performing in productions for a single season for 17 years. I really only moved away from it recently to focus on this last album.
MUSICAL INSPIRATION: Poetry, nature, visual art, travel, relationships… the same stuff that inspires everyone I guess. I think what I love most about creating music is that it’s very much a form of personal psychotherapy… when I write about something I went through, and am able to get it out of myself and into a separate, tangible form, it’s like it’s not there eating at me anymore. It’s settled somehow.
SIGNATURE SOUND: Shadow Work is my second full-length album/LP, and it’s definitely quite heavy psychedelic blues rock. But I’ve also put out jazz, country, R&B, even French pop recordings. I don’t think I have a genre, and that’s the way I want it to be. Putting too much pressure on the concept of “genre,” and the social notions and capitalist divisiveness it engenders in the music industry, is probably one of the things harming us the most these days. My aim has always been to blend everything that inspires me into some kind of new alloy.
I think what I love most about creating music is that it’s very much a form of personal psychotherapy…
ON SONGWRITING: Most of my songs are about me trying to find the deeper spiritual meaning behind why I’m drawn to the relationships and situations that I am. I think my favorite song from the new album right now is “Oedipus Wrecks.”
The [songwriting] process is different every time, but usually starts with a phrase, maybe it even already has a cadence or a melody. How quickly things unfold from there is never the same. Sometimes they fall out in an afternoon and sometimes they’re dreadfully painful and take years to complete.
FAVORITE MUSICAL ERA: Oh, I totally cannot choose! I love opera, classic rock, Delta blues, garage/psych, mid-20th-century jazz... so many different things for different reasons.
My aim has always been to blend everything that inspires me into some kind of new alloy.
ON RECORDING + PERFORMING: The live show and the studio vibe could not be two more polar experiences. The studio is the mind palace, definitely an artistic incubation chamber where you bring together the people you trust most to help you create the child that you’re all gonna raise as a village, you know? Whereas the live performance is often an out of body experience for me, a sort of giving up of the ego and the filter between you and everyone else, and you have to decide every night how much of the inner you that you’re gonna let leak out. It can be taxing as hell, but it’s also probably the best high you can ever experience too… there’s literally nothing else like being the physical conduit for something you created in your brain to reach people so directly. The best times are when you can touch others positively and intensely while also healing and fulfilling yourself.
ON FASHION: Ever since I started performing live about seven years ago, I have taken a lot of inspiration from my opera career (and things like glam rock and punk and runway fashion), as far as the aesthetic of my stage show goes. I’ve been lucky enough to find band members who share my desire to perform in beautiful garments, incorporate movement and interdisciplinary stuff like live dancers or liquid light shows, etc… It's all about elevating the experience from just music in a room, into something people can swim around in with all their senses.
Not much is easy about this path, but most of us on it could never do anything else… it’s just what we’re made for.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: Money and pressure are the biggest hardships and obstacles for any independent artist. It’s like… maybe just when you feel like you’ve got a leg up somewhere professionally in this crooked business, you can then topple yourself by being your own worst critic or your own biggest hurdle… or vice versa. Mental health in professional creatives, specifically those of us in marginalized sections of society, needs to be discussed in a much more open dialogue. Not much is easy about this path, but most of us on it could never do anything else… it’s just what we’re made for. We push through. In the US we need a federal union for independent/non-classical musicians, and that means unionized pay, and yes that means from streaming services and digital media.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Man, we’ve been so lucky. We’ve also worked really hard, which you have to do (unless you’re simply handed the money or the algorithm or both), but we’ve definitely been fortunate enough to have some beautiful and synchronistic experiences. Festivals are always the best, especially when they’re in countries you’ve never been to, or couldn’t wait to come back to. Getting to open for some of my heroes like Willie Nelson and Tom Petty will be memories I treasure forever. Getting to hold your LP in your hands when the vinyl comes back is up there too.
It's all about elevating the experience ... into something people can swim around in with all their senses.
FUTURE HOPES + DREAMS: I just want to see as much of the world as possible with the musicians and people I love, and keep making honest art as it naturally comes to me. I feel like now more than ever in a society that is constantly pushing you until you crack, the dream is to create on your own terms in your own time, and still be able to retain your freedom. I will always try for that. DM
WEB + SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Official Website: kimlogan.net
ReverbNation
YouTube
Spotify
iTunes
Purchase Shadow Work on vinyl!
Written by Tamara Styer.
All photos property of Kim Logan.
Photographers: Molly Baber + Michael Alley.
Deitra Magazine has teamed up with the world-renowned online music platform, ReverbNation, on a mission to find standout artists from around the globe. To get featured in this series, head to ReverbNation.com to submit to our current campaign! Your submission is free with a ReverbNation membership.
SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC HERE!
Deitra Magazine has teamed up with the world-renowned online music platform, ReverbNation, on a mission to find standout artists from around the globe. To get featured in this series, head to ReverbNation.com to submit to our current campaign! Your submission is free with a ReverbNation membership.
SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC HERE!
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