Kate Waterfield

Review in September issue of Pentacle Magazine
by Brian Botham

This is the first CD offering by Kate Waterfield. Runa-Megin is a musical exploration of the meaning and character of nine ancient Runic symbols. Kate employs experimental vocal techniques and healing sounds from around the world, fused with elements of Scandinavian folk and contemporary electronic music. The end result is a fresh pure sound, that will haunt and inspire you. There are tracks that will have you deep in thought, and some that will have you tapping your hands wishing your drum was close by! The music is ideal for Ritual use, as well as meditations. The CD has taken a year to produce, from start to finished recording, and I think it's been worth the wait. Kate has one of the purest voices I have ever heard. I could go on and on about each individual track, but I won't. All I will say is that this is new, fresh and pure; a musical delight to the ears!

Review from Summer 2005 edition of Sacred Hoop, by Nicholas Wood

I have never had a feel for runes, but Kate demonstrates that she has, by producing this interesting debut album based completely on their phonics. Nine tracks, nine runes, nine textural explorations of the nature of sound as vibration and power.

Almost filled with multi-tracks of her beautiful voice, the album is additionally fleshed out by instruments as diverse as assorted percussion, didjeridoo, guitar, oud, fiddle, and other sounds it is hard to identify. The CD notes don't mention many of these instruments, so I am left to wonder if they are real or digital - either way it worked very, very well.

This is a highly inventive and ambitious album and it draws from many musical traditions as diverse as folk music from Bulgaria and Finland, as well as more experimental Scandinavian music from bands such as Hedningarna. There is more than a hint of experimental classical vocal music in there too, as well as some beautiful acoustic guitar playing by Zura Dzagnidze that has almost echoes of Mike Oldfield's better stuff. It's a maelstrom of creativity, with all its overdubbed vocals, hand claps and textural instruments, but I never once feel Kate loses her centred eye of the storm, never does she go into the turbulence of excess, her vision appears to be held perfect, straight and true throughout.

Kate has played with different bands and vocal groups before this album, but to produce a debut solo creation like this leaves me feeling very impressed. I love being in my own recording studio, and I know how hard it can be to start a simple idea and then develop it: and Kate's ideas are very complex ones which must truly require a steady nerve. I can't say I would like to play the album as ambient background music, it is too intense for that - it demands you listen to it, and rightly so. But I can say to let it wash over you is a delight, and I must make an appointment to play it through head phones because I think it will be quite a ride.

Review from www.blissaquamarine.net October 2005

As soon as I heard of this album I knew I was going to love it. I was intrigued & excited by its subject matter (runes, which I'm interested in from a primarily historical point of view, as Scandinavian history & mythology are amongst my main interests) and its musical influences (amongst other things, Scandinavian folk music, which is perhaps the type of music I am most deeply passionate about). Listening to the album, my initial perception of it was not proven wrong. Kate Waterfield, musician and shamanic healer, makes extremely innovative music which combines vocalisations of the rune names and sounds; folk music from Scandinavia and beyond; and atmospheric electronic and experimental elements. Despite its avant garde quality, it is very melodic and haunting, with strong tunes that stay in the head. Here are nine musical compositions, inspired by nine of twenty four runes of the Elder Futhark (nine is a sacred number in the Northern tradition. It appears throughout the mythology, for example in the nine worlds, and the nine days & nights in which Odin sacrificed himself in order to gain the runes). Uruz is a deeply atmospheric choral piece. Raido is an energetic, driving piece that fully conveys the movement/journey interpretation of the rune. Kenaz is a truly exceptional world-fusion piece with elements of Scandinavian and Celtic folk and shamanistic drumming and chanting. Gebo has the feel of Eastern European choral music, combined with modern electronica and delicate, melancholic folk guitar. It has medieval touches at times but is also totally new. Isa is an experimental piece which conjures up images of frost, ice and cold winds; appropriate as Isa's primary meaning is ice. Algiz is a truly beautiful, mainly folk-inspired piece, but its sharp 'zzzzzzz' sounds accurately evoke the protectiveness and defensiveness inherent in the rune Algiz. Sowilo is a very moving vocal piece of great beauty, in which the archaic and the modern (possibly even futuristic!) sound completely at home together. Tiwaz is a greatly innovative composition which uses the voice as a percussion instrument and also to create a kind of otherworldly chanting that really is like nothing I have ever heard before. Ingwaz is another moment of pure beauty, combining medieval choral music, Scandinavian folk music, shamanic drumming, and truly original elements with no outside influence at all. There have unfortunately been a few people who have misused runes and Nordic mythology in order to peddle extreme right wing politics and/or a kind of pseudo-Satanism, neither of which had any place in the original Northern religion. Kate Waterfield however seems to have no such ulterior motives; she has embraced the spirituality behind the runes and the overall effect is so moving that it's clear she understands the subject she's dealing with. For the listener, a familiarity with the symbolism behind the album is perhaps helpful, but it can also be enjoyed for what it is on a more exoteric level - an immensely creative, innovative set of compositions.