Kate Borkowski - Singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist was born in South Bend, IN to a Notre Dame psychology professor father and an ESL teacher mother, who helped cultivate an intense love of words within Kate. It is difficult to miss Borkowski's literary roots, and the fruits of her own Notre Dame bachelor's degree in English, as she sculpts her songs, with precision, weaving trance-inducing and almost eerie vocal melodic play with lyrics that are as likely to invoke vodka as they are to jaunt playfully between rarely used terms in a literature book. But even as Borkowski's lyrics can prove elusive, her finger is never far from the pulse of the rest of us who, despite the lyrical labyrinth she erects almost as if to entertain herself, are able to follow the thread of her voice and cannot help but to feel as though we "get it".
Borkowski will tell you with a grin that her mother often used Twain's caveat, "never use a big word where a small word would do just fine." When translating the complexities of her inner self, however, she often finds a small word just won't do. Perhaps that is why Borkowski has resonated so strongly with Paul Simon and, more recently, with Tori Amos. Borkowski has said of Amos that she has been a needed reminder that there is a place for the intellectual woman who writes edgy, abstract, and allusion-filled songs within an industry inundated by cliches and demure women. In "Siamroot" (which is an anagram of Amos' name) on Borkowski's upcoming debut album, she investigates the cyclical nature of a volatile relationship and an almost Absinthian retreat from life into the landscape of Amos' songs. Borkowski dedicates "Siamroot" to Amos, a stunning effort in its own right, and no small gift to offer the very woman who has proven so inspiring.
Borkowski's debut album, "Beautiful Little Fools", was recorded and engineered at Garey Shelton Productions in Seattle, WA and additional recording and mixing was done by Marcel van Limbeek (Tori Amos). Kate teamed up with Marcel van Limbeek in early 2010 and the dynamic and creative two-some spent most of the year recording additional vocals, cello, and Bosendorfer piano parts between London, UK and Martian Engineering (Cornwall, UK). "Beautiful Little Fools" has whirl-pooled in such musical stand-outs as Ben Smith (Heart); Keith Lowe (Fiona Apple); Mac Aladdin (Tori Amos); John Philip Shenale (Tori Amos); Rosemary Banks (Tori Amos); and Garey Shelton (Tingstad and Rumbel).
"Beautiful Little Fools" was mastered by the legendary Greg Calbi (Paul Simon, "Graceland") at Sterling Sound in New York, NY and is expected to be released sometime in 2011.
© 2011 kate borkowski, All Rights Reserved.
