Kate Gratson Releases New Track 'Watch and Wonder'

Today, November 3rd, Brooklyn's Kate Gratson releases the track for her single "Watch and Wonder" with a gorgeous psychedelic-tinged accompanying video.

Her full length album "The Girl You Knew" drops this Friday, November 6th.

When listening to Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, producer and cellist Kate Gratson, several elements begin to reveal themselves into an emerging artist with a fresh voice and a deep understanding of jazz and classical techniques. Sounds and colors begin to paint a portrait of music that carries beyond her years.

With a sound that is equal parts R&B, folk/indie and electronic -- including layered samples mixed with velvety vocals, balanced by gritty drums and melodic synths -- Gratson utilizes these various identities to blur the lines. She creates her own sound while using her classical training as a foundation to operate in music worlds that are both old and new. The result exists in a place that is timeless all at once.

With venues shuttering in early 2020, and the music world paused, Gratson proceeded to co-produce and release five singles, paving the way for her debut album, set to be released on November 5th, 2021. Entitled The Girl You Knew, the album features several singles that explore the process of self-reflection and how it can yield various types of personal growth. Gratson has dealt with these themes before, but here she digs in and expands on them. We find deeper understandings of these states of being, pass through these feelings with her and, through her carefully sculpted layers of musical and emotional elements alike, we arrive at the goal: acceptance.

Gratson's pull to music began at the age of four with the violin, then transitioned to the cello by six. As her early years progressed, so did her relationship with the language of music. At nine she picked up singing and by 14 she had started writing her own songs and exploring composition. As Gratson's musical abilities and inspiration grew, the discovery of modern artists was crucial to informing her style, tone and simply knowing what was possible -- that liminal space between genres could exist and be celebrated.

LaGuardia High School marked an important shift where Gratson built on this musical awareness with a new source of inspiration: jazz. This jazz focus developed into a drive and by 2013 she was a YoungArts Finalist in Jazz Voice, lead soprano in the GRAMMY Camp Jazz Session choir, and a GRAMMY in the Schools award for her song "Coins". Further development of the song would evolve it into an EP, released to the world where it impressively peaked at #14 on the iTunes Jazz charts, paving the way for a steady stream of singles and growth since.

Following this success, Gratson would go on to receive a BM in music composition and vocal performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia. It was during this time that Gratson's sound and voice as an artist began to take shape. She then returned to New York City to focus on refining her distinctly eclectic sound, attempting to harness the layers that made up her voice. She returned to the artists that guided her initially, writing and honing and steadily releasing singles.

As the music world reawakens, Gratson is currently gearing up for the release of her full-length album, continuing to compose and craft new songs, and play shows around NYC again, reuniting and sharing her music with the energy of people.

Listen to the new single here:

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