When it comes to sharing her music with the world, Kate Bollinger admits to being a little impatient.
The Virginia-born, LA-based songwriter typically prefers to release new tunes as soon as possible, which has helped her compile a bevy of singles and EPs since 2017. But while working on her debut LP, Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind, Bollinger learned to sit with her work a little longer to allow more time for the material to mature.
“I wish once it was done, I could just put it out immediately. I think that’s why it took me so long to make a full-length album,” the 26-year-old says. “If it were up to me, I would just be putting stuff out all the time.”
This preoccupation with time seeps into the opening track of Bollinger’s shimmering debut, a laid-back jangle pop gem announcing her arrival after so much waiting: “Another day begins / I’ve got the time on fast-forward again,” she sighs over the snappy shuffle of a drum kit and breezy acoustic guitar. “And every moment races on / a fleeting horse determined to win.”
As the moments race on, Bollinger continues to meld modern indie-pop sensibilities with her penchant for 1960s folk and Americana. But Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind, released last Friday via independent label Ghostly International, is a marathon — not a sprint. Comprised of solo material written back in Virginia and recent songs crafted with writing partner Matthew E. White, the 11 tracks on Bollinger’s first LP trace her personal and musical transition from her Southern hometown of Charlottesville to the bright lights of Hollywood, where she permanently relocated in 2022.
“It feels like the truest expression of myself that I’ve put out so far,” she says.
Musical Mad Libs
Bollinger is set to take these songs on the road with a tour kickoff and radio taping Oct. 5 at Boulder’s eTown Hall, where she plans to play the album in full along with older cuts from her catalog.
Outlining her writing habits, Bollinger points to the mystery of the muse: strummed chords magically turn into lyrics, which always come last. It’s hard for her to really put into words, but it’s the only process she knows.
“It’s pretty subconscious. I’ll just mess around on guitar and find a chord progression I like,” she says. “I’ll start singing a melody, and eventually the melody just becomes words.
“Sometimes it’ll come out fully formed,” Bollinger continues. “Other times it’ll be like there’s one syllable or word that I’m hearing in different parts of the melody, then I’ll fill it out like it’s Mad Libs or a puzzle.”
One piece of the puzzle snapped together early, before she conjured up a single song for the new record, when the album name and the overarching idea first came to Bollinger.
“I had that concept in mind before the songs were written,” she says. “Knowing myself and how I write songs, I subconsciously knew that’s how the album was going to come together.”
Staying power
While working on Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind, Bollinger’s personal playlist included several Elephant 6 bands (a 1990s indie-rock music collective partially based in Denver) along with early Of Montreal and an overlooked 1960s gem: Greasepaint Smile by the late Elyse Weinberg.
“She was a part of the Laurel Canyon scene, but lesser known than a lot of the other people,” Bollinger says of the artist behind the previously unreleased 1969 album.
The variety of those influences can be heard on singles like the somber piano ballad “Lonely,” the jazzy “Sweet Devil” and the upbeat twee-pop of album opener “What’s This About (La La La La).”
With the album out, now Bollinger is glad she didn’t rush it.
“I think it’s good to sit on things sometimes. I just move on so quickly,” she says. “The problem with making something and releasing it right away is you don’t figure out if it has any lasting power. I learned that it is good to be patient sometimes, because I think I’ll connect to these songs a lot longer — hopefully.”
ON THE BILL: Kate Bollinger. 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $40