Fifteen Minutes of Fame Music Entertainment

Officially Published on October 17th, 2025

About the Artist

“Kathi Deakin is poised to be a household name in indie/folk, alternative, and americana music. Vocally, she gives a stunning and superior performance with a sweet and subtle control over every single note she sings. The production quality of the song is spot on. I’m not able to offer a single note for improvement in this capacity. I wouldn’t tweak a single dial.” ~ Fifteen Minutes of Fame

It was August 27th, 2024 when I published those words. Kathi Deakin had just released her debut single, Fairy, thus beginning my obsession with folk music. I remember being floored. At that time, I hadn’t reviewed a lot of artists or their music. What was so remarkable about Deakin was the fact that I had caught her music on the ground floor. The very first release, just one month after she had released it. Granted, she isn’t a stranger to music. She has been writing and performing music since she was 12. The world hasn’t been aware of this, however.

In October, I started doing virtual interviews. I got a message from Kathi stating an interest in doing an interview ahead of the release of her second single, These Roots. There, she gave even more insight into who she was. Her process as a songwriter. Her aspirations as a musician. I had an understanding of her. She is a person who devotes herself: to her music, her work, and her girlfriend.

“I will be working on an album or an EP for the next half year. I’ve learned that good things take time. I can’t tell you how much time this is going to take, exactly, but I have a plan and a concept and people that support me so it’s this journey that has been a quite exciting one. And it’s only just beginning, which makes it more nerve-wracking. In a good way, of course!” ~ Kathi Deakin

After These Roots, I heard her release of Spring earlier this year. It brought me back to her first release. I thought about how good Fairy was and thought about how many musicians can put out one really good song and then not find that footing ever again. That wasn’t happening with Deakin. Three releases equaled three extraordinary pieces of music. I knew she was a special musician after her first song. I think it wasn’t until Spring, that I understood that Kathi Deakin is a standout performer. She was about the couple of hundred listeners she was getting on Spotify. Afterall, that is how so many measure success these days. How many followers we have on social media. How many streams we have on Spotify. We are measured by virtual likes.

Fuck. That.

Kathi Deakin is a generational talent. The music industry is broken and it is failing her. Even so, success rarely happens overnight. It is something that can certainly happen for Deakin. Her potential is unmistakable. Her music is comparable to Feist but I think Deakin does it so much better. The way she stacks her vocals, offering layers of incredible sound. The production is spot on time and time again. She hasn’t missed with any one of her releases. Including her fourth single, Birthday Tune, which explored the death of her cousin. She is such a cerebral artist, which is often lost because she is also so passionate. I feel lucky to be the person that clicked on the link 14 years ago in an effort to write a review about a musician I had never heard of.

About the Music

Perennial by Kathi Deakin on Bandcamp

Perennial is the debut album by German/English independent recording artist, Kathi Deakin. It releases today, October 17th, 2025. It features 10 songs, including her lead singles; Fairy, These Roots, Spring, and Birthday Tune, and has a run time that is twenty seconds shy of 40 minutes. These songs were written and performed by Kathi Deakin. Perennial is an independent release.

Deakin starts Perennial at the very beginning of her, with the song Fairy. Opening with her first single, a song that raises her love on a pedestal, she gives her listeners an immediate glimpse into who she is. Then, we hear Spring, a metaphorical examination of changes in a relationship and the body’s reaction to these changes; like how we get allergies when the weather changes, and how they can be suffocating. Deakin compares this to the anxiety of reaching a tipping point between suffocating her partner by clinging to them too closely and letting go too much to the point that she would lose her altogether.

We then hear These Roots, a song I so definitely believe in, I chose it to be the song I used to conclude my short film commemorating the anniversary of Fifteen Minutes of Fame. The closing of this song is so powerful. To this day, I still listen to These Roots weekly, and I usually repeat it at least once when I hear it.

Following These Roots, we hear If You Dare. It is a short song, running at around a minute and a half. Yet in that little amount of time, there are these layers and layers of sound; guitars, synths, and layers of vocals, and as the song comes to an end, production takes over with some neat effects, transitioning into Birthday Tune.

The sixth song, The Worst in Me is the longest song on the album, slightly exceeding the 5 minute mark. Again, I can’t stress the importance of Deakin’s delivery. She and her producer have mastered their layering technique. As The Worst in Me builds, she sneaks element after element in. Her acoustic is so percussive, it isn’t immediately recognizable that there isn’t percussion at the beginning of the song. It isn’t until that drum element actually comes in right at the end of the first verse, with the bass coming in RIGHT after that as the first chorus comes in. It’s so precise. It works so incredibly well. I love how it all momentarily drops back as she repeats the line “Don’t you dare embarrass me,” before coming right back in.

Her seventh song, Holy Immortality, resonates so much with me. I think I talk about her instrumentation so much, I inadvertently overshadow how brilliant she is as a lyricist. In Holy Immortality, she has so many lines that just plant themselves right into my brain. I seriously can’t concentrate on anything else right now. They’ve stolen time away from me because of how deep they hit. Holy Immortality deals with loss. This is a topic I know Deakin feels deeply. In the brief conversations she and I have had about it, I know it is something she has way to sort of fixate on thought. I think she is prodigious in how she is able to transfer that fixation to her music. Here are some of my favorite lyrics in Holy Immortality:

• “Don’t know who I’d be with you still in my life. I never heard answers to the questions that rise.”
• “Should I break you down to the merest to get to the best lyrics?”
• “Maybe that’s why I love twice as hard cuz baby you know I’ve got a fuller heart. And I know it’s been leaking, there’s a crack and it’s deep, won’t stop me from seeking memories I’ll forget.”
• “Is it awful to try and see the good in your death?”
• “So why should I pray to a god that killed a baby and this happens on the daily.”

With Little Tiger, Deakin opens with a very minimalist approach with an arpeggiated synth decending in its progression and a very subtle acoustic and one vocal part. As we move to the chorus, the song builds and adds depth. The music is reminiscent of the composer West Dylan Thordson; how the synths just sort of sneak into the song then just sort of disappear for a moment.

The title track, Perennial, is a statement piece. I hear why this garnered the name of the album. It has this ambience to it. How the strings want to exist within the song without deliberately telling the listener they are there. The continuity of elements within the song serve as a greater symbolism to the overall body of work, while still encompassing the importance of the song independently.

The album closes with, Hannah, with a sample of waves rolling onto the coastal line and a guitar that is played with a traditional Uke strum pattern, before the song comes in with percussion, layered vocals, and arpeggiated guitars. In another brilliant display of songwriting, Deakin puts us all in our place with lines like “I’m fully aware that, that you were born an architect of mind. You didn’t have to show your powers. I can see them in your eyes.”

I am seriously asking. Who fucking thinks of that? “You were born an architect of mind.”

Speechless.

Final Thoughts

Perennial by Kathi Deakin on Bandcamp

per·en·ni·al (adj) lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.

I woke up 5 hours ago and left for work 4 and a half hours ago. The moment I left, I started listening to Perennial. I am on my 7th listen. I can’t stop listening. Half of this album, I’ve heard before. Hundreds of times. With each single release in the past, I’ve always thought that the moment Kathi Deakin released an album, it would conceptually transcend each individual song, respectively.

With Deakin, Perennial, is her inescapable need to fixate on how she feels. How she dwells on hurt. It effects her deeply. She loves immensely, with a brilliant intensity. When she experiences loss, she builds a memorial for that person in her mind and she visits that place often. She exposes herself in Perennial. She lets the listeners into these intense emotional reactions she has to her life. It’s almost intimidating to try to put myself in her shoes. Who could possibly fill them? Everybody has a right to their own feelings and how they react to their experiences but Deakin makes me feel like I’ve been doing it wrong. At the same time, I don’t envy this impression I get from listening. If this is how she really feels at all times, it would almost seem to be a crushing weight that was felt all of the time. Yet, her composed demeanor would say she’s adapted to the pressure like a deep diver and she is compassionate to her audience because she has found a way to communicate with them that is gentle; a quiet guide to the abyss. Otherwise, we’d all go rushing back to the surface and get the Bends.

Kathi Deakin is an expert at crafting layers. When we listen to her music, she exposes us to a plethora of layers. Some are more evident. Others are in the underlying parts of the song that resonate with us after we’ve analyzed the meaning of her words. We may even miss some of them, even though we hear them. They still somehow make that connection. 14 months ago, I listened to Fairy and was hooked to this artist. I knew I wanted to hear an album but I didn’t know what to expect.

Today, that moment is realized as a debut Kathi Deakin album now exists in the world. It is more than I could have ever imagined it would be. It is absolutely brilliant. Including mainstream musicians, I have to say this is a top 5 release of the year to date for me. easily.

Purchase Perennial by Kathi Deakin on Bandcamp

Read the FMOF Review of Fairy by Kathi Deakin

Read the FMOF Review of Spring by Kathi Deakin

PSA: PLEASE READ

Do me a favor by doing Kathi Deakin a favor. I know that many have probably seen the Halsey Interview on the Zane Love Show and now the moment Shirley Manson addresses her audience announcing their last North American Tour. One artist who sold 100,000 physical copies of her last album is being told she can’t put out another record because it didn’t hit big enough for them to fund it. The other the head of a band who has dominated airwaves and been selling out shows for 30+ years saying that they can’t afford to tour anymore. Why? Because we, the listener hear an incredibly talented artist like Kathi Deakin and we say, “I want to represent them by giving my money to Spotify. I go to Ticket Master to buy a ticket to go see her perform.” We are “honoring” these musicians by giving money to GIANT CORPORATIONS WHO HAVE LITTLE TO DO WITH THE ART.

I know I am preaching to the choir here. We need to set the example though. If we can appreciate an artist for what they do, that artist deserves their money. I know there are benefits to Spotify. There are people in every country in the world who have heard me because of Spotify. Before that, I was unheard of outside the state of Tennessee. Streaming music is an excellent way to discover new music. But once we have discovered somebody that sticks with us, we need to pay them. When I listened to Perennial, I purchased the album on Bandcamp. I actually almost paid double for it. This is my way of saying I believe in the work she is doing. I support her music. I support HER as an artist. I understand that we live in a socio-economic climate that can’t afford people to be able to buy every single album they love. But we have to make an effort to change this culture. Maybe we don’t pay for a subscription to Spotify- we can still use the app. We just have to listen to ads, but we can take that money and buy the artist’s music with it.

Perennial by Kathi Deakin on Bandcamp

I can almost see everybody’s eyes rolling. The whole soap box thing is derivative. I get it. But I’m not wrong. We can do better.