Western Australian singer-songwriter Karin Page is a self-confessed perfectionist, so understandably she's taken her time developing her debut album 'Walk Away'.
“It's been a long time coming for me and I did want to give myself the time and space to do everything the way that I wanted to,” Karin says of the album ahead of its early November release.
“There's so much more I would loved to have done, but I'm trying to listen to what the message of the title track is, which is walk away and just be conscious of the fact that you can't control everything; you just have to let it go and walk away from the things that don't serve you.”
A songwriter who treats her lyrics like entries on a journal, Karin says her music is very autobiographical and gives people a chance to get to know the type of musician and person she is. “I can't wait for people to get a better idea of who I am as an artist,” she says.
“My songs are very personal and you can really get to know who I am through my music, so I'm looking forward to being able to share that with people. The lyrics for me are what makes a song more than anything, so when people contact me and say that they got something from my music because of a certain line in the song, that's what you do it for, that connection.”
So far, three singles have been released from 'Walk Away', including the title track, 'Jessie' and 'Box', the latter of which features vocals from one Mr. Ash Grunwald, much to Karin's unexpected delight.
“On 'Box' I wanted a brooding, gravelly voice to represent the male part in the songs, and [Jordan Power, producer] actually produced one of Ash's albums previously and was good friends with him,” she explains.
“Ash rocked up, learnt his parts, came in and smashed out the vocal. I then ended up playing a show with him in Geraldton a couple of months later. He got me up onstage to sing; he's just a real great guy and he's really supportive of other artists, really wants to help anyone that he can. It was so nice, he was perfect for what I wanted for the vibe of the album.”
The release of 'Walk Away' is timed conspiratorially well with WAMFest, both occurring in the early days of November. Ahead of her own performance as part of WAMFest, Karin is excited at the prospect of representing her state's thriving music scene.
“I'm really looking forward to WAMFest. I've played it a couple of times and every time it just gets bigger and better,” she says.
“Sometimes people feel like there's only a couple of genres that come out of Perth but I feel like WAMFest showcases so many different types of music and it really shows what we have here.
“To be a part of it and to be in that line-up as well – I don't think we're headlining but we're playing last on one of the nights – it's just exciting to feel everyone coming together.”
'Walk Away' is released 1 November. Karin Page plays WAMFest at Holmes & Co. (Perth) 1 November.
