“I feel like I’m always going to be changing and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Karin Ann. “Being the same person for your whole life would be so boring.”
The Slovakian alt-pop star’s 2021 debut EP Lonely Together was all spiky, brooding Soundcloud bedroom pop, while 2022’s snarling emo follow-up Side Effects Of Being Human led to slots supporting the likes of My Chemical Romance and Yungblud. Debut album Through The Telescope is a world away from the snotty, punk-infused rebellion of those earlier records, though. “It does feel different, but I don’t think I’ve ever done the same thing twice,” she explains with a grin.
Inspired by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Hozier and Phoebe Bridgers, Through The Telescope is a gorgeous collection of songs. It might seem like an evolution, but this lush music also allowed Karin Ann to reconnect to a childhood full of figure skating, ballet, dance, gymnastics and aerial hoop soundtracked by ‘70s rock music and film scores. “I was also a real theatre kid, so there are nods to Bonnie & Clyde and Phantom Of The Opera,” she explains. “With musical theatre, you’re telling a story through music and folk music is the same. You’re creating a world and to me, that’s beautiful,” Karin Ann continues.
Through The Telescope is a universe to get lost in, but despite its beautiful, enthralling escapism, the album was born through struggle. “I was going through a lot,” she admits. After years of fighting to be heard and throwing herself at every opportunity, in 2022, Karin Ann was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, tetany, that left her unable to walk. It came just as her career was beginning to pick up momentum, “It left me in a really dark place,” she admits.
“I thought I’d have to quit music,” she continues, but a couple of weeks into her enforced break, she took a call with producer and multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lazar Davis. At first, the pair bonded over dogs before talk turned to music. Karin Ann sent him over a song she’d been working on, and he sent the demo back. “Something just felt right,” explains Karin Ann.
Working on the record in secret gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted, with Karin Ann putting creative liberation over any chart-topping ambitions. “All we cared about was making music we loved. It was genuinely so freeing,” she explains. “I had started to feel like music was very constricting and suffocating,” with comparisons to Billie Eilish, Yungblud and Girl In Red piling on the pressure. “There were no expectations with this project. It was all about following your gut.”
“There’s still the same angst, melancholy and sadness in the lyrics”, but across Through The Telescope, Karin Ann turns to joy. “That comes from the creative freedom I felt,” she explains.
When she was starting out in her career, the teenager Karin Ann often found herself in rooms with middle-aged men. “That’s just the way the industry works,” she shrugs. “I was never uncomfortable, but I was just never as comfortable as I was working with Ben and (his creative partner) Will Greafe. There was no judgement, and I never felt weird sharing anything with them,” she offers. It led to Through The Telescope being the most personal, revealing music Karin Ann has ever released. “As an artist, you need that understanding from the people that you’re surrounded by.”
The whole experience, from considering quitting music to rediscovering the joy and excitement it could inspire, made Karin Ann reflect on her journey so far, which is where the title comes from. “It made me confront things as well,” she adds.
That’s never more apparent than on ‘I Don’t Believe In God’, a country-tinged, straight-shooting track that isn’t afraid of saying it how it is. “I grew up in Slovakia, which is a religious, conservative country,” says Karin Ann. “It was a very toxic, sexist, hate-filled environment and because of that, it took me years to come to terms with the fact I was queer.”
“It’s funny, the Christian church is meant to teach you about love, acceptance and kindness, but they also contradict themselves so heavily. Apparently that love only applies if you fit into their specific rules.” The track sees her pushing back at those traditional belief systems, but still looking for faith.
“I’ve never had an issue with being vulnerable in my songs, mainly because a lot of the time I don’t even know what I’m feeling. When I write songs, it helps me make sense of my head, and the world around me,” she continues. “Songwriting is my therapy. People will either love this album, or not,” she continues. “I hope it finds its audience though.”
“But in terms of my platform, I definitely try to use it for important things like talking about global warming, equality, feminism and other things that are happening in the world that people are choosing to be oblivious towards,” she adds.
She’s not worried about the change in direction because “it was just something that felt right”. She continues: “The rock and punk-inspired music felt right at the time, and I might make something completely different again in a couple of years. It seems like such a miserable, bleak and boring existence to never change. I think people are drawn to authenticity anyway,” she offers.
Because she grew up feeling like an outsider, Karin Ann turned to music for understanding. Getting involved in the online communities for artists like Billie Eilish, Girl In Red, Yungblud and Gracie Abrams “did so much for me,” she explains. “I felt like I didn’t belong where I was and I didn’t have people around me that understood me. I found that through music and fandoms though. The thing I never realised was just how much community you can find as an artist when your music connects with people though.”
“I’d rather have 10 people listen to my songs that care about what I have to say, than 10 million listeners who aren’t really connecting,” Karin Ann says of her ambitions. “I hope my music resonates with people like me, who don’t have that community and don’t feel like they belong. I feel like this record could be their safe haven,” she adds. “It’s all about that community for me.”
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