Acoustic endeavours pay off for This Is The Kit

Championed by the likes of Guy Garvey and The National, British musician Kate Stables has followed her own path, writes Ed Power

ONE day many years ago Kate Stables’ father returned from a car boot sale with a novelty item under his arm. A collector of musical instruments, esoteric and otherwise, he’d spied a banjo amid the bric-a-brac and stumped up on the spot.

At home his daughter, an aspiring songwriter, picked it up and started strumming. She liked how it sounded — warm but with an edge, familiar yet with hints of the open road.