Gig Preview: Kathryn Joseph + Valentich
Friday 21st August
Spin the Black Circle, Worcester – 7:30 pm
A singular voice in contemporary music arrives in Worcester as Kathryn Joseph headlines Spin the Black Circle on Friday 21st August, joined by special guest Valentich for a night of haunting beauty, emotional intensity and fearless artistic expression.
Kathryn Joseph has long been celebrated for her raw honesty and devastatingly intimate songwriting. Her breakthrough album ‘bones you have thrown me and blood I’ve spilled’ won the Scottish Album of the Year Award in 2015, setting the tone for a career defined by unflinching truth‑telling.
She followed it with the grief‑stricken ‘from when i wake the want is’ in 2018 and the stark, powerful ‘for you who are the wronged’ in 2022, a record that confronts abuse with clarity, compassion and quiet fury.
Now she enters a new era with her fourth album, ‘WE WERE MADE PREY’, released via Rock Action Records. Recorded at Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis, the album embraces a bigger, darker, more urgent sound. It explores the collision of want and loss, self‑fulfilment and shame, pushing her music into a space that feels both more expansive and more exposed.
Working closely with long‑time collaborator Lomond Campbell, Kathryn’s delicate, visceral voice is surrounded by rich layers of piano, keyboards and electronic textures that amplify the emotional weight at the core of her writing.
Reflecting on the album’s evolution, she says the songs “were angry, but in a small way – until Lomond added all this beautiful noise, and suddenly they were angry in a much bigger way, in an exciting way, and so full of want.” It’s this tension, fragility and fury, softness and enormity, that makes her live performances unforgettable.
Opening the night is Valentich, an artist whose ambient post‑rock soundscapes merge seamlessly with four‑to‑the‑floor techno beats. Their multi‑layered darkwave textures and synthesizer‑driven loops draw comparisons to Jon Hopkins, Tycho, Bicep and Boards of Canada, creating an immersive instrumental world that sets the perfect tone for what follows.
A night of atmospheric intensity, emotional excavation and boundary‑pushing sound from two artists who thrive in the shadows and the light. For anyone drawn to music that feels brave, haunting and deeply human, this show promises something extraordinary.
Advance tickets are recommend and are Available Now.