Black Belt Eagle Scout - At The Party With My Brown Friends

On ‘Going To The Beach With Haley’, Katherine Paul finds inspiration in a sun-kissed adventure with contemporary and friend Haley Heynderickx. Its relaxed yet intimate tone is indicative of her second album as Black Belt Eagle Scout, an exploration of love and friendship underpinned by dreamy hushed vocals and gentle guitar tones. ‘At The Party With My Brown Friends’ is a step away from the understated immediacy of its predecessor, remarkably assured in its serenity considering the record arrives less than a year since the last.

Katherine’s more overt anger is replaced with a celebration of community, in part inspired by her father’s native chants heard growing up on the Swinomish Indian Reservation in Washington State. Delivered with a beautiful delicacy, Katherine attempts to find hope in togetherness in a world that looks to pull us apart and despite its comparatively positive themes, the record carries a melancholic weight and a knowing wink - not least in its title.

Yet at its core ‘At The Party With my Brown Friends’ is filled with hope. Painting a tranquil image of friendship and family, at times bordering on escapist, Black Belt Eagle Scout finds both the tenderness in companionship and its fragility.