This Is The Kit – “Bashed Out” (Stereogum Premiere)

This Is The Kit – “Bashed Out” (Stereogum Premiere)

Kate Stables has been recording music as This Is The Kit for years now, but this is probably one of the first times you’re reading about her. Bashed Out will be her third full-length album, and since Aaron Dessner and the National stumbled into one of her shows by happenstance and immediately fell for her sound, it will also likely be her breakout. The record is coming out via Dessner’s own Brassland label and we’re premiering the title track today. “Bashed Out” digs into the mud, muck, and shit of life, acquiescing to the dirty violence of existence with a clear-eyed sort of courage. Stables sings and plays guitar, trumpet, percussion and banjo throughout the record, but you’ll especially notice the way she handles a banjo, turning an often hackneyed sound into a thing of delicacy. In some ways, it seems like successful artists have morphed into the only useful A&R forces, and if I could, I’d personally thank the Dessners for unearthing Stables. You might remember Sharon Van Etten also shouted out This Is The Kit in an interview a few years ago as her favorite new artist — Stables has opened for Van Etten, Jose Gonzales, Jeffrey Lewis, Alexi Murdoch, Iron & Wine, and the National. Listen to the track below as an introduction, and get ready to hear a lot more from her.

Bashed Out will be out 4/6 via Brassland.

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