This Is The Kit is the musical project of Kate Stables. One of time and change and careful listening. It has carried Stables from Winchester to Bristol to Paris (where she’s lived for the last fifteen years), and across tours and festivals around the world. Her fourth album ‘Moonshine Freeze’ was nominated for an Ivor Novello award in 2017. In early spring of 2020, just before everything got weird, Kate and her band of trusty companions, (Rozi Plain, Jamie Whitby-Coles, Jesse D Vernon, and Neil Smith), knuckled down to record what would become This is the Kit's fifth album 'Off On Off', released in October 2020, to huge acclaim with Uncut calling it the bands “most multi-layered yet subtle work so far” and the Independent naming them "One of the most original and musically gifted artists of today."
Acutely sensitive to the pulses and currents of life, 'Off Off On’ shows Kate Stables to be a songwriter overflowing with ideas, ably crafting music of great beauty, of wonder and illumination, and seems one more step on This is The Kit’s to becoming one of the country’s most revered musical endeavours.
"I love the local/unofficial names that get given to a place and that stick over time. Part of the local heritage and mythology of a place. Then there's the place itself. The shape of the place. A naturally formed tunnel. An ancient footpath. I like the idea of being there alone. Controlling your nerves when you're in an unfamiliar place with no one (hopefully!) around. It takes a bit of effort for your imagination to not get carried away. You become acutely aware of the sounds around you. That feeling of concentration. Close listening. Footsteps. A low hum. The wind. The mythology of certain places is a powerful thing and often casts quite a strong spell over that place and the people who pass through it. Even when experiencing it through a drawing or piece of artwork."
"That's why this exhibition is such an enjoyable project to be part of. The fact that people are given the opportunity to settle into a time and place. Their 'virtual' surroundings , a real yet imagined environment."
