Mystery Park by Kathryn Williams

Kathryn Williams, the folk singer-songwriter long celebrated for her quiet emotional depth and lyrical precision, releases her 15th studio album ‘Mystery Park’ via One Little Independent Records on September 26th. A deeply personal, intimate collection, ‘Mystery Park’ marks 27 years of making music. It’s a reflective, textured work shaped by time’s shifting tides.

Known for her delicate, moving voice and poetic songwriting, Williams rose to prominence in 2000 with ‘Little Black Numbers’, the self-released album that earned her a Mercury Prize nomination and became a touchstone for a new generation of British folk. Over the decades since, her output has been both prolific and shapeshifting. She’s written a novel (The Ormering Tide), hosted a podcast (Before the Light Goes Out), worked as a visual artist, collaborated with a wide array of musicians from John Martyn and Paul Weller to Ed Harcourt and Withered Hand, and released celebrated projects across genres, including her Christmas album, ‘Midnight Chorus’, with Dame Carol Ann Duffy. Her most recent release, 'Willson Williams' was SAY and Americana Award-nominated as well as receiving critical praise.

With ‘Mystery Park’, Williams returns to the sparse and affecting sonic palette that marked her early releases ‘Old Low Light’ and ‘Relations’. These are songs made in the quiet margins of motherhood and memory, written over time, and recorded in close creative communion with trusted collaborators; Leo Abrahams (guitar, piano, bass, vocals), Neill MacColl (guitar, vocals), Polly Paulusma (guitar, vocals), Chris Vatalaro (drums), Ed Harcourt (piano, mariachi bass, vocals), David Ford (harmonica), and Paul Weller (Hammond organ, vocals).

“This is the most personal record I’ve made,” says Williams. “The artwork is my own painting, based on the willow pattern from my grandmother’s tea sets. Each part of it ties into the songs - a map of memories.”

Kathryn Williams is an English singer-songwriter who to date has released fourteen studio albums, written and arranged for a multitude of artists and was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize.