Katie Haverly - Aviary (2015)

With Aviary, Haverly has stepped fully and without reservation into what she has to offer as a musician. The album is the cultivation of many years refining her craft and cultivating her voice, and has been described as “…like listening to a portrait. Certain songs just spill through the speakers like velvet smoke..."

The root of these powerful songs is revealed in the album title. “There’s this sensation in a large aviary that there is freedom and movement with the exotic plants and flowers and water and different types of birds. But the fact is: the birds are not free,” Haverly says. “The songs in this album explore how we cut off our own ability to have an expansive life, especially as women. I’m interested in how we allow ourselves to be limited or confined by others’ expectations and assumptions, or too often, by our own.”

The Aviary is threaded with a desire for women to be more fully honored and supported in a culture that does not always value them. Some of the songs’ tensions deal with Haverly’s experience and the experience of so many female musicians who have met with obstacles and condescension while pursuing their art. The message is clear: women artists need to be heard. Haverly counts among her inspirations intimate and powerful songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Amy Winehouse, Lianne La Havas, Laura Marling, Stevie Nicks, and Erykah Badu.