“The unrelated details give our lives a meaning”
Katre’s debut studio album Encounters focuses on the concept of existence.
Inspired by the stages that span conception and birth, to growth and self-awareness, the album explores these ideas through the two chapters, Existence and Existing.
Underwater World
Everything started as the mature egg is fertilized with a cell. The fetus, which at the beginning looked nothing like a human, grew at an exponential rate by dividing. After a while, he even learned to perceive the sounds from the environment. As a matter of fact, the fetus cannot hear us clearly, because he is surrounded with a protective liquid in the mother’s body. What he hears reminds us of what one hears when diving into the water. Underwater World provides an introduction to the album with guitars voicing the sound of an underwater whale. The use of an ebow, sets the tone of continuity that we aim to reach in the sound.
Mettle
This song is about the sacrifices that a mother makes and her dedication before and during labor. Due to physical and psychological demands, such as fetal movements, kicking, changes in nourishing habits, increasing weight, and sensibility; a mother must endure the toilsome process of delivering a baby. The overdriven parts of the song represent the determination of the mother as well as the extent of her pain, while the smoother parts address the dream of a new living being that makes all this suffering tolerable.
The Breath Part I & II
These songs tell the miraculous dimensions of a living being as he begins to breathe for the first time. The most profound change at birth is the baby’s first breath. At this point, the baby’s lungs, which are filled with fluid during pregnancy, must suddenly fill with oxygen. The fluid in the lungs are replaced with air. The tremolos sending the sound from your right ear to the left, the sustainability in the sound and the continuity in the melody create feelings of a dream and voices how time ‘inches along’ in such a marvelous situation. The first few breaths after birth may be the most difficult breaths your baby will take for the rest of his life.
Bond
The dream in the previous song is now a reality; the newborn is now breathing. Hence, this song is the introduction to the 2nd part of the album, Existing. In some cultures, the newborn is placed on the mother´s belly before cutting the umbilical cord. The Bond tells the everlasting bond that is formed at that moment. The utilization of the acoustic, fretless and electric guitars represents the homogeneity of that bond perceived by different senses.
It is all New
From his very first moments in life, the baby fights for its survival and is driven by instincts such as the Moro, palmar grasp or suck reflexes, as well as human contact. Amongst those needs is curiosity, which allows the baby to explore his surroundings and advance. “It is all new” addresses this conditioned state and refers to the baby’s appetite to learn, who is a complete stranger to the world.
Blurry Paths
The being shaped in flesh and bones progresses each day and adapts to his environment. In line with the law of conservation of energy, the experiences contributing to the enhancement of his merits discomfort him at the same time. “Blurry Paths” tells the stages of development and its difficulties, the syncopated riff towards the end of the song deals with the imbalance and crankiness, caused by the mental leaps. The term “blur” in the song’s title refers to the sight of the baby, which is quite limited and fuzzy at the beginning.
Heaviest Leaves
The human being will learn, mature, play alone, and communicate. He will get to know people other than his parents and in a way attach himself to them. With every step, he will feel his existence and get closer to his substance. Nevertheless, nothing lasts forever, absolute bliss is only something to dream of and reaching it is impossible and futile. Hence, the one connecting should also learn to let go, just like he learned to engage. “Heaviest Leaves” advocates that view and conveys the possible feelings that may arise in such situations.