“The Dopamine High Ain’t Love” is the 4th single release from Kate Harding since her debut “Wallflower” in 2024.
Having recently been Shortlisted for ‘Act of the year’ in the ‘Acoustic/Country/Folk’ category at The Portsmouth Music Awards, Kate is proud of the music coming out of her local music scene in the city Portsmouth on the South Coast of England.
Just last week ‘Crystal Tides’ was the first band from Portsmouth to have a new album reach the UK top 40 album chart. The frontman for this band is Billy Gregory, who is the Producer for Kate’s new single.
This is the first collaboration for both Portsmouth artists.
Kate originally wrote what was a heartfelt ‘sad girl song’ in an open tuning before Billy played it back to her in standard along with a pretty arpeggio to boot. He gave what could have easily been a melancholy feel, an uplifting beat with plenty of soaring parts to make the overall end result much stronger.
The pair collaborated in December, during a time where Kate had already started work on her first album with another studio in Portsmouth, Casemates, where she recorded her last single release SHINY THINGS with Producer Jim Harding. This work is still underway so Kate is excited to be able to share some new music in the meantime.
Kate recently stood on stage at The Edge of the Wedge, her first support slot, a Square Roots Promotions event, opening for Ags Connolly – and told the audience of 60 seated people how she once found out she was being cheated on. Whilst the wool might have been pulled over her eyes at the time, Kate’s lyrics, co-written with her band member/guitarist/friend Jon Wheeler, leave behind the advice she wishes she could go back in time and tell herself.
“Just because someone makes you feel like you are the one, doesn’t mean that is the reality of the world that’s been painted for you. It could be – but hey, my experience has taught me not to trust words alone.”
After Kate experienced a health scare in recent years “I think the perspective I am coming from is should anything ever happen to me, I hope this advice is heard by my daughter when she’s older. They don’t teach you about manipulation at school.”
Whilst in production, Billy was tracking a beautiful guitar part that made Kate cry and this moment of a tear rolling down her cheek has been incorporated into the cover artwork created by a comic illustrator friend of Kate’s who has worked with her on previous releases and a number yet to come.
More to come from Kate Harding soon.