They’ve been working together for six years, and in that time they’ve grown from being a small Seattle based band, to one who are now taking on the wider world.
Having recently graced Australia’s shore, their mellow yet futuristic sound consisting of vocals, harmonies, electronic beats and lyrics that belong in a sci-fi novel aren’t the only things that make this duo unique.
Instead it’s the relationship between the two members, rapper Stasia ‘Stas’ Iron and vocalist Catherine ‘Cat’ Harris-White that really makes THEESatisfaction special.
Stas was an emcee and an occasional performer at open mic clubs, as was Cat, and one particular performance by the latter has stayed in the couple’s memory ever since.
“One time at the open mic, she actually sang a song, and it was about me.” Iron tells over the phone from their Seattle apartment. “It was like a freestyle, and she was talking about me, and I didn’t know until afterwards and she came up to me, and said that, and I was like, ‘oh that’s crazy’.”
Not long after, the two of them connected and became a couple. They are both calm and collected, but are distinctly different in their attitude and intensity.“If someone’s saying they’re willing to help you do something and they’re good at it, you respect them. You kinda gotta go with the flow.”
“I went to college for jazz vocals and I was in a lot of jazz groups,” says Harris-White over the rustling of dishes in the background. “When we first started we just had our laptops and some headphones, and we didn’t have microphones or anything, or beat machines. We would just sing into our laptops at first, and then we just started building.”
While they started small, over the last four years their project has picked up steam. THEESatisfaction is now signed to SubPop records, being only the second RnB act to do so, and things have begun to change, including the resources at their disposal.
“So far it’s been awesome,” says Stas. “It’s perfect because they’re also from Seattle, it’s kinda like a homegrown, grassroots, do it yourself type of label. We’ve had a great relationship with them so far.”
Including the release of their first studio album, Awe NaturalE, and the couple have welcomed the help offered by their new label.
“Yeah, I think we’re very open to it, because, if someone’s saying they’re willing to help you do something and they’re good at it, you respect them. You kinda gotta go with the flow,” says Stas.
“With Awe Naturale we just use a lot of different techniques. We just recorded in a professional studio and everything like that, and it was mixed and mastered. I mean, we only really just started mixing our projects in a more professional manner. It’s all about growth in different ways, so for the album, we just wanted something different.”
Seattle may prompt images of cafes and grey weather, but it’s the sleepy little music scene that is showing some colourful signs of life.
Stas says the city’s music is very cool now, “a lot of different things happening. A lot of styles – genres merging together. There’s not really like, a certain style, or Seattle vibe, it’s all just like, all over the place.”
When listening to Awe NaturalE, there’s a futuristic element to some of the lyrical themes, which makes sense when the two talk of their influences, including Sun Ra and TLC.
“We read a lot of sci-fi books,” reveals Cat; “and watch old movies, and our parents are kind of nerdy sci-fi geeks. We pull from all over the place. Art as well. We also like Andre 3000 and Outkast.”
According to Cat, they worked on the record “for quite some time. We had some songs that made it from 2008 onto the album, and then we had some songs that we had been working on closer to when it was being completed. So, we were like, this has to go on. So, it’s just a mix of music from throughout the years.”
Before their full-length album, the duo had numerous mix tapes making up their catalogue, and while songs were chosen from across the board, all of them have been reenergized to some degree.
“In terms of mix tapes, you can mix it and re-release it, but for us we like to try and keep it fresh,” affirms Cat. “So, if we had a song from another mix tape it would be just like, totally revamped.”“We read a lot of sci-fi books… and watch old movies, and our parents are kind of nerdy sci-fi geeks.”
A refreshing aspect of the girls’ lyrics is how direct they can be. In songs such as ‘Needs’, the words they are singing and speaking interchangeably, communicate quite concisely how they’re feeling, even when the frustration they’re expressing is directed at one another.
“We’re not too sensitive to the point where we’re like ‘Oh, do you really think that about me’?” Stas assures. “I mean, things happen. Sometimes we’ll be mad at each other. We just want to make it as free as possible. We say that word a lot, but it truly is just fluid.”
“We do a little bit of everything, you know,” agrees Cat. “We like using puns and just like, rapping around words. The way things are phrased or spelled… But we also like to just get to the point sometimes. Sometimes you just have to lay it out, you know? It depends on how the music touches us.”
The sense of the small music community the pair hail from presents itself in their endorsement of another small Seattle band, King Crumbs. “They’re kinda experimental, hip hop, jazz, funky artists. It’s four guys that we grew up with,” says Stas. “They just put out a project recently, self titled. So, check them out.”
It’s easy to reflect on just how easy going these two young girls are, but what seeps in, even through the line of a long distance call, is how deep the connection between them is.
The vibe Cat and Stas radiates adds to their distinctive live performances, with the latter commenting, “Yeah, we’re pretty chilled. We’re too ‘high feeling’. We just want to make Australia a little more groovy, you know?”
