Black Belt Eagle Scout Mother of My Children LP (Grapefruit Splatter Vinyl)

"Having this identity—radical indigenous queer feminist—keeps me going. My music and my identity come from the same foundation of being a Native woman." Katherine Paul (aka KP) is Black Belt Eagle Scout, and Mother of My Children is her 2018 debut album. Recorded in the middle of winter near her hometown in Northwest Washington, Paul's connection to the landscape's eerie beauty are palpable throughout as the album traces the full spectrum of confronting buried feelings and the loss of what life was supposed to look like.

Paul grew up in a small Indian reservation, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, surrounded by family focused on native drumming, singing, and arts. From an early age, Paul was singing and dancing at powwows with one of her strongest memories at her family's own powwow, called the All My Relations Powwow. Paul reminisces, "When I was younger, my only form of music was through the songs my ancestors taught the generations of my family. Singing in our language is a spiritual process and it carries on through me in how I create music today." With the support of her family and a handful of bootleg Hole and Nirvana VHS tapes, Paul taught herself how to play guitar and drums as a teenager. In 2007, she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend college and get involved with the Rock'n'Roll Camp for Girls eventually diving deep into the city's music scene playing guitar and drums in bands while evolving her artistry into what would later become Black Belt Eagle Scout.

Mother of My Children is a life chapter gently preserved. The access listeners have to such vulnerability feels special and generous.

Black Belt Eagle Scout is Katherine Paul – guitar, vocals, drums/percussion, bass, keyboard, vibraphone, organ and piano.

A collection of pensive rock songs saturated with an oceanic mood, it gets its drama from mists and crashing waves—a lush rhythmic force of unruly drums, distorted guitars—with Paul's voice surfing above it all.

Mother Of My Children is a pulse check, and Katherine Paul needs to be considered one of the great new voices in melodic post-rock, a powerful female presence that will connect with fans of Feist or early Cat Power.

The kind of album that can both haunt and heal you—if you pay close enough attention.