Katie Dey

From Australia, Katie Dey creates home-recorded pop songs whose unconventional arrangements reveal an inventive sensibility. By warping her voice into a harsh croak, she heightens the vulnerability of lyrics that explore fear and isolation. Websites, blogs, and artists including Frank Ocean and Japanese Breakfast have praised recordings such as the 2016 album Flood Network and the 2020 release Mydata.

Based in Melbourne, Dey began playing instruments in her preteen years and later shared original material on her blog. One track drew the notice of Mat Cothran of Elvis Depressedly, who introduced her work to Warren Hildebrand of Foxes in Fiction, co-owner of Orchid Tapes. A longtime admirer of the label, Dey seized the opportunity to collaborate. In 2015 she offered the brief album asdfasdf as a free Bandcamp download; the cassette edition issued by Orchid Tapes sold out its initial pressing within a day. She next joined Joy Void for the full-length Flood Network, which appeared in August 2016.

A joint project with indie electronic artist Devi McCallion, Some New Form of Life, arrived in late 2018. Dey resumed solo work with Solipsisters, a 2019 album addressing acceptance of the body. Written about a long-distance online relationship, Mydata followed in 2020. Urdata, a 2021 collection of Mydata remixes featuring contributions from Danny L. Harle, Baths, Devi McCallion formerly of Black Dresses, and additional producers, completed the sequence.