Kaia Kater returns with new single, “The Internet"; has European dates coming up

The first single from renowned Americana artist Kaia Kater since 2021 is out now. “The Internet” is Kater’s first single after signing to Free Dirt Records, and is a preview of a new album coming in Spring 2024. Kicking off 2024 with new music and a tour to the UK and Europe in January and February, Kater intends this year to be a triumphant return to recording and touring. She’ll also be appearing in 2024 as part of newly formed Black string band supergroup, New Dangerfield, featuring Jake Blount, Tray Wellington, and Nelson Williams. Kater’s album coming on Free Dirt Records will feature key special guests and celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history as they rise up and turn the poison of centuries of oppression into a strange kind of medicine.

Kater’s new single, "The Internet", encapsulates the manipulation of our modern digital age. Inspired in part by Kate Bush's song “Watching You Without Me”, in the chorus Kaia riffs on old modem sounds by rendering some of the lyrics barely intelligible and slightly garbled. Kater premiered the song via an interview with Tom Power for CBC.

"We're thrilled to welcome Kaia Kater into the Free Dirt family of artists,” says general manager Jonathan Een Newton. “We've long admired her exceptional songwriting as well as her powerful banjo playing. We look forward to sharing more of the gorgeous new music she's crafted on the label soon." Kater will be joining a host of other cutting-edge roots musicians on Free Dirt Records including Willi Carlisle, Jake Blount, Cinder Well, Mama’s Broke, and more. 

Kaia Kater’s previous album, 2018’s Grenades on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, saw a wave of acclaim for Kater’s transgressive vision of Black North American roots music, culminating in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Following this album, she took a break from recording solo work, choosing to focus on film composition and songwriting, though she did release a single with jazz trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah in 2021. Her work in film composition is also coming to fruition this year with the release of the new film My Dead Friend Zoe. Acclaimed composer Dan Romer (Composer Station Eleven, Beasts of the Southern Wild) tapped Kater to cowrite a song for the film, and Kater also sang and played banjo throughout the film’s soundtrack. This film features performances from Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman will have its global premiere at SXSW 2024. 

TOURDATES:
04/02: Brussels, BE - Indies Keeping Secret
06/02: Gent, BE - Trefpunt
07/02: Leuven, BE - Campus Corso
08/02: Tilburg, NL - Paradox
09/02: Amsterdam, NL - Tolhuistuin Zonzij