If you ever wondered what a Canadian singer-songwriter does when she ghosts the music biz, Kathleen Edwards has your answer: she opens a coffee shop called Quitters, makes cappuccinos with latte art that resembles “somebody’s butt crack,” and tries not to care if you even notice she’s gone.
“I thought I was exiled from all radio,” Edwards deadpans, before quickly clarifying, “Just kidding.” Except she kinda wasn’t. The self-imposed exile was real, and so was the new album, Total Freedom, which reads like a middle finger to burnout culture. “I ran out of money. No, just kidding,” she shrugs, but maybe she means half of it.
She’ll tell you she’s “not a coffee nerd at all,” which is probably for the best. “My staff are amazing at that stuff but my latte art heart… it looks generally like somebody’s butt crack.” At least she’s honest about the beans, though: “Use a really good coffee roaster and really good equipment. Otherwise the beans have no help.” Consider that her philosophy for music too.
It’s all refreshing candor from an artist who bailed at her peak. “There’s this fear of being forgotten,” Edwards admits. “People presume that’s going to be the reason to not take a break… like, you’ll never be able to change your mind.” So she changed it anyway. “It was so good to not be that person for a while. To not be the person who’s like, ‘When’s your next record coming out?’”
She’s realistic about the hamster wheel too. “The expectation that you gotta pump new music out like rabbits? Unrealistic,” she says, name-dropping Fiona Apple and David Lowery in the same breath. “My record took three years to make. Who is anyone to decide how long art needs to be made in?”
Edwards is more comfortable championing the cause than selling herself. “Artists need to worry about making art, not figuring out how they’re gonna market themselves,” she says, spitting out the word ‘marketed’ like it’s a bad cup of drip.
If the coffee didn’t snap you awake, the songs will. She’s still a sniper with the storytelling — lines like “the street view had you in slippers” feel like casual eviscerations. And she doesn’t care if it’s on the nose that the new songs reflect her comeback. “It just feels like my first record again… I wasn’t worried if it was gonna land or not. It landed for me.”
Then there’s “Hard on Everyone,” which gets an unexpected shoegaze nod. “It’s not a shoegaze song but it affects me in the same way,” she says. Her drummer deserves the glory. “I give him full credit — it just changed the whole vibe. And if it sounds like War on Drugs? Who cares. That band’s fantastic.”
Ever the accidental philosopher, Edwards ties it up with a Louisville Slugger story. “Some guy brought me a Louisville Slugger with my name on it and a bottle of Woodford Reserve. I kept that bat by my bed for 15 years. Guys would come over and go, ‘What’s the bat for by your bed?’ I’m like, ‘We’ll see how it goes.’”
Bourbon, baseball bats, butt crack latte art, and a middle finger to music industry nonsense. Kathleen Edwards is back, and she’s making damn sure you know she’s not sorry she ever left.
And check out this interview from 2012 where Kathleen and Kyle talk about her album Voyageur:
