The latest single from ethereal indie folk singer-songwriter Cati Landry.
Ethereal indie singer-songwriter Cati Landry just released her latest single “Desert Rose,”
a flowy, moody and reflective indie folk track perfect for fans of artists like Lana Del Rey, Kacey Musgraves and Fleetwood Mac.
The Vancouver Island-born and raised artist writes with such vivid imagery, which is not surprising given Cati’s studies in literature, the Victorian era, and American transcendentalism at The University of Victoria.
Inspired to write about escaping a world that doesn’t understand you and taking a less conventional path, Cati worked with co-writers, now friends, Olivier Bassil and Belaro, making sure to capture the excitement of living your truth and the indescribable way that no outside opinions seem to matter when you have the right person by your side.
“Bella and I clicked immediately, and somewhere in our conversation she had mentioned that she would be visiting the desert that weekend—and so that became the inspiration for the symbol of the desert rose that is at the heart of the song, a celebration of finding and getting in touch with the truth and beauty in your nature.”
Q&A with Cati:
Q: “What was the writing/recording process like? What was most challenging? What was the most rewarding?”
A: “It took us a minute to figure this song out—it had a couple of different beginnings, but once we discovered the heart of it, then it came together in no time and the ideas just wafted like a familiar perfume into the room. For me, the most challenging part of writing any song is usually just remembering to trust the process and stay open and vulnerable, but then the most rewarding part is seeing where the process takes me, and takes us, because there’s always a gift and a magic to that. My mom and my best friends all immediately fell in love with this song, too, when I played the demo for them, so that was very sweet to get to share.”
Q: “What do you hope listeners take away?”
A: “A few days after we wrote this song, I started reading the amazing book The Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and it includes a passage that describes how, often, we live in a psychic desert of sorts, alienated and disconnected even from ourselves. In this desolate place, there might only be one single red desert flower, she says, and then 500 miles of nothing. It’s easy to want to avoid this place, with all of its loneliness and emptiness, but we need to explore it and face this part of our inner nature with courage. That single desert rose is a sign of life, a symbol of hope, that we need to sift the desert and see what we can find… there are secrets for ourselves waiting out there.
I loved that passage so much, and it felt like serendipity to find it right after writing the song—because to me the message of the song is that you can flourish and thrive and survive even if you’re living with hard circumstances, if you learn to embrace the wild.”
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