The Sesh & Skint Northerner Present
Sonic Union: Katie Spencer
'What Love Is' Album Launch
Polar Bear Music Club, Hull
Sunday 19th October 2025
7:30PM DOORS // 14+
£12 TICKETS
+ Support from Marnie Glum
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KATIE SPENCER:
'Her articulate picking, with suggestions of folk and jazz, frames intelligently written songs’ – Guitarist Magazine
Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull (UK), Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through her assured guitar style and songwriting. Now, as Katie steps into this new era with a third album, her focus turns to those deeper inner spaces, inviting the listener to engage with her heartfelt and intricately-crafted songs.
Her writing, and most notably her guitar playing stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Julie Byrne and perhaps most evidently Michael Chapman, weave into her sound. Katie absorbs these influences into her songwriting and with her distinctive deep vibrato and crystal-clear guitar style, she makes the music inimitably her own.
Katie will release her third album What Love Is in October 2025; an intimate collection of ten brand-new songs produced by Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, The Staves). Recorded in London’s Urchin Studios and featuring prominent players Giacomo Smith (clarinet), Max Clilverd (pedal steel), Tom Mason (double bass) and Matt Ingram (drums, synth). What Love Is evokes the spirit of Joni Mitchell’s finest later works, always honouring without emulating. Lyrically mature and at times pastoral; the album is melodically sophisticated and unflinchingly honest. She moves effortlessly from wide-open jazz-tinged soundscapes, influenced by Pharoah Sanders and John Abercrombie, through to the folk-baroque fingerpicking style that her fans admire her for. Her singing is powerful yet warm, true and pristine in delivery. The musicianship throughout the record feels liberated by Katie’s innovation and confidence, and the result is a master-class of inspired and beautiful-sounding craftmanship.
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Sonic Union provides a quiet performance space limited to 80 people, supporting atmospheric artists in an environment they deserve to be listened to. We politely ask ask all attendees to remain silent through the performances.
You may also like the following events from Polar Bear Music Club:
- This Saturday, 2nd August, 10:30 pm, WIRED - DJs Every Saturday Night // Humber Street Sesh Afterparty Special // Polar Bear, Hull in Kingston Upon Hull
- Next month, 19th August, 07:30 pm, The Sesh - Live Music Every Tuesday // Rude Films + Fragile Acts + Theo Kendall // Free Entry in Kingston Upon Hull
- Next month, 26th August, 07:30 pm, The Sesh // Full Flower Moon Band + Last of the Wonder Kids + Clearance Sale // Free Entry in Kingston Upon Hull
Also check out other
Music events in Kingston Upon Hull,
Entertainment events in Kingston Upon Hull,
Workshops in Kingston Upon Hull.
