Kathleen Blackwell - Czar (Official Music Video) ft. Bergþóra Einarsdóttir

Producer Notes: The song that would become “Czar” began its life as the “orphan groove,” a leftover fragment that would become a highlight of the project.

While working in Italy, I was building grooves or “beats” for some of the songs we had in progress. Some of the beats worked, and others did not. I had created one groove that we liked but did not fit anything we were working on. It got labeled the “Orphan Groove” and was left in a folder of unused ideas. Arthur later took that groove and wrote the music for an entirely new song around it that was both heavy and beautiful and totally original. Kathleen wrote a haunting vocal part, and collaborators worldwide took it to places we could never have imagined. The biggest impact came from the dark Icelandic rap of Bergþóra Einarsdóttir and the slinky Jaco Pastorious-esque bass line of Arnold Ludvig in the Faroe Islands. I was struggling with a way to make all these amazing parts feel a little more cohesive, so I called in a secret weapon: Arlan Oscar arrived with a collection of keyboards, and with virtually no direction from me, made the song richer, deeper, and more cohesive. A musical fragment traveled around the world to become a whole. ~Ronan

Artist Notes: Czar holds a particular yet tortured-turned-positive space in my heart. I woke in the wee hours of a coolish, September cloudy morning, alone, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Don’t get me wrong, I knew why I was there. I had a round-trip ticket from Austin, TX to Vancouver and back within 36 hours—stealth.

Hanging on the edge of a cliff, I was in a dark place as an insomniac; cryptic, yet alive, finally, after a good night’s sleep. I was at Hotel PanAm with large glass windows overlooking the Fraser River’s delta, which juts into a part of the Pacific Ocean. I was sitting in bed, steadfastly awake at 5am, when I received an email with a new track. Giddy, I put on headphones and heard “the orphan groove,” a beat that Ronan had created, hanging on the edge of life, and Arthur adopted and transformed into something completely new and beautiful. The orphan groove had survived to tell its story!

The theme of love and war, hate, and peace and light have always been at the tip of my tongue—engaged, cocked, and ready to fight—flee, freeze, fly. ~Kathleen

Kathleen Blackwell: Lead Vocals (English) and Background Vocals
Bergþóra Einarsdóttir; Lead Vocals (Icelandic)
Arnold Ludvig: Bass
Arlan Oscar: Synths
José Manuel Aguilera: Guitar
Arthur Edström: Programming and Synths.
Ronan Chris Murphy: Programming and Synths

Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Ronan Chris Murphy
Additional Production by Arthur Edström
Recorded by Diego López and Ronan Chris Murphy
Curver Thoroddsen: Musician Coordinator for Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

Follow Kathleen Blackwell:
Facebook KB: https://www.facebook.com/kathleenblackwell.fan.page
Facebook PE: https://www.facebook.com/projectelectrico
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatBlackwell​
Website KB: http://www.KathleenBlackwell.com​
Website PE: http://www.ProjectElectrico.com