Q&A: Kate Bollinger on her Debut Album, Songwriting, and Creative Process 

Before her show in Somerville, MA, we had the pleasure of sitting down with the singular Kate Bollinger, a true creative in every sense of the word. Describing herself as a “vessel” for her art, Bollinger fosters a sense of nostalgia and authenticity in her projects that resonates with audiences.  

Just a couple weeks ago, Bollinger released her debut album, Songs From A Thousand Frames of Mind. The album is full of eclectic and introspective tracks that seamlessly blend folk-pop and indie rock elements. With the accompanying music videos and visuals, Bollinger invites fans to step into her cottage-core dreamworld and lose themselves in the vintage aesthetic. 

SH: How has it been touring this album? I believe this is your biggest headline tour to date. 

KB: It’s been good. It’s been really fun. We’ve been playing a lot of the album songs for quite a long time but it’s nice to play them now that the album is out and be able to sort of feel people’s reactions to things. A lot of the songs are so new still. I wrote some of them right before the album was recorded, so they still feel very relevant to my life. It always feels good to sing something that you mean, you know?

A testament to her endless well of inspiration, Bollinger and her band debuted another new song during the show, one that no one else had heard yet. Currently untitled, the track boasted Bollinger’s signature breathy vocals and hypnotizing instrumentation.

SH: Before this album, you’ve had some music appear in film and television (including Made For Love, 2021, The Sex Lives of College Girls, 2021, Anyone But You, 2023). Has that influenced your writing creation process? Did you picture when some of these songs could appear in a film?

KB: I think if I were writing directly for film, then it would, but I don’t think about where the song is going to go while I’m writing.

SH: I feel like that’s when it has the best impact because it is the most honest to that time in your life. You created a very cohesive storyline throughout the whole album, and particularly, I love the order of “Postcard From A Cloud” through the album’s closer “All This Time.” Assuming you didn’t write the songs in that order, how did you piece them together? Did you go back and tweak songs or lyrics after you put them in order? 

KB: I didn’t tweak songs or lyrics after making the tracklisting. I didn’t have an order in mind; it sort of came to be while we were recording the songs, and afterward, we were listening back to all of them. Sam, who produced it, he and I sat together and tried out different orders. Some of them kind of just magically went into the next ones, which was a nice surprise. It was pretty subconscious and what felt right. 

SH: The album title is very fitting as you have a unique ability to articulate the peaks and valleys of human emotions. Most of your songs are entirely self-written. How do you nail down different concepts and ideas and what environment feeds your creativity? 

KB: When I’m writing alone, if I’m feeling inspired, I’ll just sit down with my guitar and start messing around with it. Eventually, a melody will come, and then it can just naturally turn into lyrics. It’s like I’ll have one or two words and then a line and it’s super subconscious. I don’t feel like I have a lot of control over it. I’ve said this a lot before, but it feels like having a dream.

SH: Would you say it feels like a puzzle, like the pieces are already there? 

KB: Completely. I feel like just a vessel for it sometimes. It depends on the song. 

SH: The instrumentation and soundscapes are very lush and layered. There are three examples that I want to point out. The opening track sounds upbeat, but the lyrics are vulnerable, whereas I think of “Lonely” as one that sounds more stripped back, which matches the introspective lyrics. Then the last example is “Postcard From A Cloud” where, you know, the piano descending really sounds like you’re sending something from the clouds. How do you find that balance between whether you want something to contrast the lyrics or match what you’re singing? 

KB: I never know how to answer these questions because it doesn’t feel like a conscious decision that I’m making. 

SH: So it’s not something that you sort of sit down and say, ‘I want to map this out.’ 

KB: No way.

SH: That’s very, you know, true creative, like you’re painting something.

KB: Totally, yeah, it feels that way.

Lined on the merchandise tables were shirts with gorgeous illustrations of Bollinger. Designs included her with a fishbowl, her riding a fish through the sky, and the cheeky phrase “Kate Bollinger’s music saved my marriage – Mark, 32.” Her 128-page lyrics and photo book immediately caught the attention of fans eyeballing the options. The photo book contains stills from her music videos like “Sweet Devil,” which is full of the same paper-mache stars she brought with her to adorn the mic stand during the show. 

SH: You created a fully fleshed-out aesthetic and world for the album. You did music video visuals, promotional videos, like the Halloween video, photo shoots, and the companion book. They’re very striking, and I think you mentioned how the sets for the cover and some of the music videos were from sketches that you had thought of. How do these different elements complete your full vision and contribute to the music? 

KB: It’s the same as my songwriting process. I feel like I’m finding out as it’s happening. Like with the visuals, I can go in having an idea, but then it always changes pretty much. With the book, I had this idea for the book, and then, as we were doing it, it honestly caused some problems, such that the idea evolved so much by the time we had everything for it. My process flows in this like subconscious way; I know I already said that. I’ll listen to the song and then I’ll see the video in my mind. 

SH: So you’re very visual?

KB: Super visual, almost so much so that it’s hard to communicate with my band. Because, like the directions I give them are so abstract a lot of the time. I’ll have a vision of something. With the videos, I worked with this one group of friends I have in LA, which has been really fun, so I’ll have the idea, and then it’ll be like, ‘Oh, Eve could do this.’ She’ll make flower arrangements, or, like the stars, she made the paper mache stars for the video. I’ll be like, ‘Oh, my friend Emma could do this other thing.’ That’s the one thing that I have in mind while doing it. I’m like, what do the people around me do? Who are my friends who could contribute something to it? It makes it more fun. 

Bollinger’s love for collaboration was apparent during the set, with her lovingly introducing her band early on into the night. They bounced energy off each other and effortlessly floated through the setlist, resulting in each song sounding exactly like the studio versions.

If you haven’t already, make sure to catch Bollinger live before her tour concludes in November. Buy tickets here. 

Words and photos by Samantha Davidson for Staged Haze