PERTH muso Katy Steele says motherhood has helped give her upcoming album Soul Bride a looser feel.

The former Little Birdy frontwoman is still putting the final touches to the album, but will showcase some of the new material at her gig at the Rosemount Hotel next Saturday (August 3).

Steele and her partner Graham McLuskie had a baby girl, Iona, in April last year.

• Former Little Birdy lead singer Katy Steele has a second album coming out soon, but you can get a taste of her new material at the Rosemount on August 3.

Survival

“Motherhood’s kind of helped me to give less of a fuck,” Steele says.

“It’s about survival and evolution…it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you see the world differently, as I’m sure that almost anyone who’s had kids can [attest to]”.

Steele says the new album represents a “departure, but it’s still the same me, kind of finding new territory, being really calm about it…not analysing it too much”.

The singer-songwriter says over-analysing and trying too hard was the “downfall” of her previous record: “[It] festers, turning into this massive deal”.

The new album was inspired by the likes of Foxygen and The Beatles and has more of a “classic sound”.

Steele says she was influenced by Carole King and other artists who wrote on the piano.

She says she has “always written on piano but disguised that on guitar”. The new album features a 20-piece choir and a string section which adds “a lot of colour” and is “very grandiose”.

Soul Bride will be released early next year and a single from the album will be out later this year.

Steele says she will “keep fine-tuning things … bake it a bit more in the oven”.

The new album has been recorded in Steele’s home studio.

She has moved back to Perth, but says living all over the world helped her creatively and has not ruled out moving overseas again.

She says Perth “is a beautiful place to live – it is nice to come back and find my feet again and to enjoy the beautiful weather”.

Steele and her band will play the Rosemount Hotel in North Perth on Saturday (August 3).

by ALEX MURFETT