🎵 IT003: Porch Light
✏️ Katie Chandler
🗓 27.03.18
Katie is a commercial illustrator and designer in Columbus, Ohio.
Howdy Katie, can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?
I started listening to “Rewind” (the Echo Mountain Sessions version) by Sylvan Esso in the middle of a work day and it just really made me feel like sitting outside at dusk admiring the sky. Perhaps on a porch with a swing, a light warm breeze, low humidity, and very minimal bugs (they’re the biggest buzzkill - pun intended). I’ve also been over winter and am really excited for evenings outside again!
Every song picked after that is meant to just give you the feel-good comfort of being outside on a warm night. I’m especially happy with the transition from The 1975’s “Loving Someone” into Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color” and overall want the listener to feel soothed with some sparks of energy sprinkled in. The porch light is on, come hang out!
How did you go about the artwork for the tape?
I wanted to capture the vibrancy and intensity of what it feels like to watch a great sunset. There are all these color shifts that can seem so active, but meanwhile everything is winding down and there is a calmness, a stillness as the sun dips below the horizon. One of the places I’ve seen the most sunsets is in my parent’s neighborhood, just hanging out on the back porch, I wanted it to resemble that atmosphere.
What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?
I love the cover of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion the movement and repetition are very much in the vibe of that album. And definitely Yellow Submarine by The Beatles, that music/artwork go together like PB&J.
Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective
2009, Domino USA
Artwork: Akiyoshi Kitaoka
Yellow Submarine – The Beatles
1969, Apple
Artwork: Heinz Edelmann
What did you listen to growing up?
I actually didn’t have a lot of exposure until later in my teens, I only really had what my parents had laying around, which was pretty mildly conservative.
My first CD I had on repeat was the Lizzie McGuire movie soundtrack, and Now! 16 was often on standby. My uncles introduced me to The Beatles (my uncles are A+) and might have shown me how to download music from the internet… From there things kind of exploded and I got a chunky iPod. This evolved into a lot of random tastes; R&B, indie, emo, disco, you name it - and I’ve been a music hound ever since! I remember discovering Sigur Rós on Youtube freshman year of high school and made it my mission to own every album, Takk… is still my favorite.
What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?
I work a silly design day job making content for various goods like t-shirts, mugs, pillows, etc. for a company that is all about helping people express themselves, it’s pretty funny and punny!
Extra fun bits - I’m a member of the Pretty Picture Club and lately we’re cooking up some fun client projects alongside of our monthly themed content!
I also recently tried my hand at making a few GIF animations for a group show in Columbus called Odds Are; it’s about the coincidences and probability within our day to day lives. I love collaborating with other creative folks and self-initiated, personal projects!
Where to find Katie:
︎ katiechandler.com
︎ kchandlerart
︎ @kchandlerar
︎ kchandlerart
TRACKLIST
Mac DeMarco - Still Beating / Dan Croll - Sweet Disarray / The Morning Benders - Chasing A Ghost / Angelo De Augustine - How Past Begins / Sylvan Esso - Rewind - Echo Mountain Sessions / Alvvays - Not My Baby / Jay Som - Baybee / The xx - Replica / Alex G - Sarah / The 1975 - Loving Someone / Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color / Jakob - All Your Love / Whitney - Light Upon the Lake / James Blake - I Need A Forest Fire / Fog Lake - Side Effects / Twin Peaks - Irene / Lauv - The Other (Shallou Remix) / Pomegranates - Everybody Come Outside / St. Vincent - New York / Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞N) / moow - Honey /Petit Biscuit - Sunset Lover / Tourist - We Stayed Up All Night / Chad Valley - Alisa / Night Beds - 22 / Bibio - Wren Tails ︎