Harkin (Sleater-Kinney, Courtney Barnett) releases solo debut this week (listen)

Onetime Sky Larkin bandleader Katie Harkin has spend the last decade as one of the most in-demand side musicians, having played in the touring lineups of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Beasts, Flock of Dimes, and Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile's band. But all the while she's been working on her own music, and her solo debut as Harkin is out this Friday via Hand Mirror Records -- a label she started with her partner, Kate Leah Hewett. Made with producers Richard Formby and John Agnello, and friends Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint) and Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak/Flock of Dimes), Harkin is an album of spacious indie rock, modern and melodic, filled with hooks and exciting, memorable arrangements. A stream of the whole album premieres in this post and you can stream it below.

"I wrote this album between borrowed rooms on tour and a cottage among the howling moors of The Peak District National Park," Katie tells us, "searching for a sound that combined the eeriness of the English countryside with the pace of the mechanized world." As to releasing it herself, Katie says "Founding Hand Mirror was a statement of collaborative intent - if we can build the scaffolding to support ourselves, then we can offer that structure to others. The mission statement of Hand Mirror being a place for the 'boundless, the collaborative and the open' remains unchanged, though the parameters through which we can execute that look wildly different to a couple of weeks ago."

If you want to learn more, Katie will be talking about the album with members of Sleater-Kinney on Friday (4/24) at 2:30 PM ET on Instagram Live.