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Katie Pearlman goes where most fear - within. Presenting her debut EP Mantra Songs, Katie is on the sometimes lonely, and always brave path of self discovery. Carving out an authentic life for herself, she finds home within, exploring her femininity, defiance, sexuality, and intuition through the meditative sound of her seven track EP. 

A fourth generation Los Angelian, the singer-songwriter prefers wanderlust to the confines of the angel city. Making a habit of traveling alone, Katie’s attachment to the places that spark magic in her are the loves of her life. “I fall in love with places, not people,” she says. 

Her first love was New Orleans. Attending Tulane University, Katie studied jazz and philosophy and fell enamored by the city’s beatnik culture, intriguing characters, and live music scene. Growing up in a middle-class Jewish household where practicality was prioritized over the pursuit of one’s dreams, Katie’s decision to study music was her first act of revolution. Singing had always been a safe haven for her throughout childhood, but it was New Orleans that awoke the performer in her soul. Learning piano and guitar along the way, she fronted a live band singing in clubs and at jazz festivals. She was happy, content. But people insisted she would hit a ceiling, she needed to go back to LA. 

After playing her demos for a mentor, she was introduced to the award-winning, multi-platinum selling songwriter Ross Golan. They began co-writing long distance and he eventually convinced her to move back to LA to write pop songs. Signing to Warner Chappell publishing, she found success as a songwriter penning Grammy nominated songs for Kelly Clarkson, Grace Potter, and others accumulating over 120 million streams as a featured artist; lending her vocals to Gryffin, Dijon, and Lukas Graham.

“On paper I was doing really well, but I was burning out,” says Katie. “I felt like something was missing. I was really sad. I felt like no one was listening to me.” 

In search to fill the void, she drove eight hours to a week long silent meditation retreat in Northern California. There she faced a painful, yet liberating truth. “I had a conversation with myself - ‘Where the fuck have you been? You have been ignoring me for years. I just want to make albums.’ I couldn’t stop crying. It was an animalistic feeling like when dogs shake themselves off when they’re hurting.”  

She returned to LA and began working on an artist project. Somewhere along the way, the sadness and confusion returned. She had changed her name and surrounded herself with external voices who were increasingly trying to dictate her creative decisions. She had lost herself again. Seeking a familiar antidote, she took a trip alone. This time, to Nashville. There she self isolated (before self-isolating was a thing) and made sounds using everything she could get her hands on - forks, knives, her ukulele, a drum machine, scraping rocks together. “I started building a world. I made four or five songs, stream of consciousness. I tried not to overthink, because I love when things are raw and messy. I wanted the music to express that. And I had a breakthrough,” says Katie. “Why don’t you just try being YOURSELF.  It’s ok to be YOU.” 

Returning empowered, she shared the songs with a trusted friend, Griffin Emerson, who immediately resonated with the music’s spiritual element. Together, they named the project Mantra Songs and finished the EP with help from co-producers Kyle Shearer (Caroline Polacheck), Wendy Wang (M83) Trey Campbell (Banks, John Legend), and Jack Karazewski (Dijon). Mantra Songs sounds like learning to trust yourself. It narrates the process of trusting your instincts. “I had to stop listening to other people. This is me listening to myself. Giving myself permission to do what I want, when I want to do it,” says Katie. 

Live, textured instrumentation with folk, indie, and alternative elements and the brooding, powerful yet soft sound of Katie’s voice creates a lush soundscape that washes its listener with ease. Divine feminine energy weaves a throughline, a nod to influences such as Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Alanis Morssette - female artists who sang the things women think but are too afraid to say out loud. In songs like “Sad Sex,” “Polly,” and “Exception,” Katie carries that torch. She details emotionally detached sex, her breif experimention with polyamory, and the experience of dating a much older man. Vulnerable, raw, messy. Katie never shies away from the truth.

Pushing the boundaries with both her music and lifestyle, Katie follows the inspiration she finds when discovering new places alone. Her latest pilgrimage? Moving to Taos, New Mexico where she’s self-producing her next project. “I follow the cosmic feeling,” says Katie. “I’m designing my own life. I want to grow. And I want to make people feel less alone.” A pioneer on the journey of coming home to yourself, Katie Pearlman is following her magic. And there’s more where that came from.   

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