Gatlin On New EP 'To Remind Me of Home' and Quarantine Songwriting
By Gabe Drechsler, Courtesy of the artist
22-year-old Gatlin’s sophomore EP To Remind Me of Home came out this month, just in time for those summertime, windows down, car rides and moments of self-reflection, the kind that makes one realize how they have seamlessly changed from the year before. This project blends alt-pop electronic beats with a softer edge of acoustic instruments that almost allude to country—a mix that is slightly reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s 1989 era— adhering well to the waves of innovative indie sounds that the music industry seems to be heading towards.
To Remind Me of Home is a sonic time capsule of Gatlin’s experiences from the last year and a half. Through her chorused voice, we witness what redefining the feeling of home for Gatlin looks like. The young artist shares the common experiences that come when one grows into their twenties, such as of letting go of relationships, and mental health-related tribulations.
Irène Schrader: The songs in To Remind Me of Home are all connected to relatively recent introspections of yours. What would you say were the biggest lessons you learned in the last year and a half?
Gaitlin: I definitely learned a lot about myself through the pandemic and the making of this project. I don’t really know if I learned many lessons as much as just learned more and more who I am and being able to recognize my emotions and how to work through them.
IS: How did the pandemic affect your writing and production process? Was there a song that felt particularly difficult to write?
G: A lot of the writing started turning to Zoom sessions - which I was down to try, but didn’t love as much as being in a room with other creators. It definitely changed in that I mainly just worked with the same three people in my little “quarantine” crew and was able to focus more time and energy on every aspect of the song. I was able to be a bit more of an experimentalist. “Hospital” was definitely the hardest song to write.
IS: Has making songs about experiences with relationships and mental health in turn affected your outlook on them?
G: I think it’s just a good feeling to be able to put my emotions about something into an art form. I think it makes me feel like those problems are a lot smaller than I make them out to be when I can put them into a song. They make them feel easier to handle.
IS: After quitting college to pursue songwriting full-time, what was it like to embark on that adventure on your own?
G: It was the most freeing, and obviously scary (but mostly freeing). In high school, when I decided I wanted to make music my career, sitting in classrooms became a lot harder so I was homeschooled and started doing online high school. It was kind of the same thing with college. It became hard to sit in a classroom and learn about copyright law—when I would have rather learned all of that by actually doing music.
IS: Your music blends and alludes to quite a few styles. I’m curious to know who your biggest musical inspirations are?
G: My music taste is pretty all over the board. I love 70s and 80s rock/folk/pop. Stevie Nicks is obviously my queen and Fleetwood Mac is my favorite band followed by a close second of Queen. But I also love a lot of modern indie music—Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, St. Vincent, Maggie Rogers.
IS: Since 2020, the internet and social media have played much bigger roles in helping artists sustain their careers—how has that been for you to navigate?
G: Tiktok has definitely been a huge learning curve. It’s such an awesome platform for people to find music and so it’s necessary for me to be on it. I fought it in the beginning though—not wanting to be on my phone much and have to constantly be making social media content. But I’ve found ways to make it fun for me, because I’ve seen how useful it is—I mean it’s the way I find new music these days!
IS: What can we look forward to seeing or hearing from you in the coming months?
G: Lots and lots of shows! Finally! ◆
Stream To Remind Me of Home now. Follow Gatlin on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and her website.