returns with powerful new song ‘Freedom Of Me’.

The songwriter’s new album ‘‘ honours her Irish heritage, and it lands on January 22nd via .

New song ‘Freedom Of Me’ is a raw, stripped back offering, with Kate’s piercing vocal augmented by a solitary tin whistle.

A song about womanhood, free speech, and sexual abuse, ‘Freedom Of Me’ asks about the measures needed to assure our personal independence.

Out now, it’s an intense piece of songwriting, coupled to an eloquent note from Kate…

I’ve noticed the globalisation of this American approach to, and obsession with, freedom of speech on social media. We think of when it comes to controlling what we can or cannot say, and it makes us feel like freedom of speech is incredibly important. But is it? I don’t really think it is, and I think America is selling a lie.

The far right are very concerned with and protective of freedom of speech. I’m obviously someone who speaks out about what she thinks. But in the UK, our speech is governed by national legislation, including the Public Order Act 1986, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, the Online Safety Act 2023, and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Rightly so, in my opinion. I would argue that my right to exist free from rape and violence, with access to healthcare without political debate, is far more important than freedom of speech. The same goes for a trans person. My right to protest is fundamental.

The song is also a reflection on how the media treats women in rape cases. I wrote it right after watching Dispatches’ ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight’ and watching the commentary online. It’s quite difficult as a woman to listen to the derogatory and casual things people say, and to watch the way women are dissected: the mistrust, the anger, the jokes, then the boredom. I listened to the radio the next morning and heard people who worked for these massive TV corporations feigning shock. I thought, ‘How could you be shocked?’ It made me angry that we pretend this isn’t normal.

I was also listening to the Covid inquiry into the Conservative Party at that time. Men in positions of power who literally run the country saying things like ‘dodging stilettos from that cunt’ really stuck with me. It’s not lost on me that this song is dropping the week Russell Brand is on trial and we are reading about the. The terrible thing about this song is how it will always be relevant.

Tune in now.