Two decades have elapsed since TV On The Radio released Return To Cookie Mountain, and upon replaying it I found myself drawn again to how Katrina Ford’s backing vocals amplified a number of tracks. Ford has been a collaborator with TVOTR from the outset. Before Dave Sitek produced the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever To Tell, he had already taken on his first production assignment on Here Is Night, Brothers, Here The Birds Burn, the 2002 album by Ford’s Baltimore-based art-punk outfit Love Life.
Seeing Katrina Ford perform live is a wall-shaking experience; her voice can push you straight toward the venue’s far wall. If you ever witnessed her joining TV On The Radio onstage, you know what I mean—Ford has been a major force on TVOTR’s most essential records, and she has also delivered standout work with her post-Love Life project Celebration and in collaborations with artists such as UNKLE and Future Islands. In recent years, Ford has been releasing solo records, and a new project has just been announced.
This autumn, Ford will build on the momentum of her 2024 release H.E.A.R.T. with a fresh LP titled To The Lighthouse, recorded in collaboration with her partner and former Love Life/Celebration bandmate Sean Antanaitis. The collection draws inspiration from ’80s pop hits and film soundtracks, and the lead single “Winter Sun” presents a hazy synthpop reverie that feels best experienced after dark, in a room where silk curtains flutter in a gentle breeze. In a press release, Ford shares:
“It’s the morning after the Dark Night of the Soul, facing shadows for better days to come. In the tropics, there exists the phenomenon of a zero shadow day, where the sun is directly overhead at noon and casts no shadow. Eerily, it makes everything look like it’s floating. I dreamt of being free from the shadow — my negative self forever following. Nostalgia as a balm; music is cool then warm.
Below, listen to “Winter Sun,” alongside “Transcending,” the single Ford released last month, and the album’s tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Culture Vulture”
02 “Winter Sun”
03 “Transcending”
04 “To The Lighthouse”
05 “Pluck”
06 “The Optimist”
07 “Killer Jane”
08 “Candle”
09 “Back To Base”
To The Lighthouse is out 10/30 on Violin Films.
