Morticia’ - the new single from acclaimed singer, songwriter & multi-instrumentalist, AK Patterson
“Patterson has a cadence similar to Tim Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser, awash with a purity that seems born from pain, setting itself outside our world” - Analogue Trash
“‘I Don’t Know How to Die’ blew me away when I first heard it, it’s spine tinglingly haunting and beautiful” - Bastille
Acclaimed singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist AK Patterson kicks off 2025 with her new single ‘Morticia’, out everywhere on 10 January.
Hot off the release of her haunting debut single ‘I Don’t Know How To Die’, which landed high praise from the likes of Analogue Trash, Wax Vinyl Records, and Dan Smith from Bastille, Patterson returns with her punchy new single which she describes as a ‘a rock murder ballad’.
A distinctively more rocky sound than the haunting ‘I Don’t Know How To Die’, the track showcases Patterson’s versatility as a songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. The track was recorded in the studio with Charlie Andrew (alt-J, David Gilmour) in pitch black - “The subject matter of the song is quite dark and we really wanted to match that with the atmosphere of the studio to try and get the best vocal performance out of me. I got one of my favourite drummers to come in Adam betts, AKA Colossal Squid, and my mate Leon Itzler on bass but everything else you hear on the track is played by me. The coolest sound on the song for me is a concertina that I wanted to turn into a deep sub by attaching a contact mic to it. It had all these cool overtones on it which produced this kind of fore-boding droney fog horn. I love working with Charlie because he’s always very open to my crazy production ideas.”
Inspired by the likes of Soundgarden, Black Hole Sun, TOOL, and The Cranberries, lyrically, the track is based on a newspaper article about a gruesome historical murder, found by my friend and old bandmate Nat. Patterson says, “I wondered what it would be like writing a song from the victim’s point of view, who asks Morticia, the personification of death, to piece him back together in the afterlife. At the time I was spending a lot of time in London, walking around London Bridge and Borough Market, imagining what this man’s life was like having fallen in with the wrong crowd and getting swept up in the dark underbelly of the city.
I first learned music within the Irish folk tradition, listening to a lot of Dolores O’Riordan and I love the way she mixed traditional singing styles with grunge music. I hope people can hear my love of that kind of music in the song. It’s definitely the heaviest track I’ve put out so far and is a direction I’d love to explore more of.”
AK Patterson is a London-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music blends gritty honesty with haunting beauty. Known for her unflinching exploration of dark and complex themes, Patterson crafts songs that find hope in the bleakest corners of human experience. Described by fans as “Buckley with boobs” (in reference to Jeff Buckley), she prefers to label her style as modern chamber pop fused with the melancholic spirit of 90s Lilith Fair.
After playing in the band ‘Bastille’ for several months and joining them on their winter tour in the UK and US last year, 2025 promises to be a milestone year for Patterson, with the release of her third EP - an evocative collection of songs that explore London’s dark underbelly - Patterson reflects on her evolving sound:
“These new songs may seem darker than ever, but they are ultimately about survival, resilience, and, above all, hope.”