Episode 22 - Musician K.Flay on Vulnerability, Trust, and New Release: I’m Making Friends With The Silence

Indie artist and songwriter K. Flay celebrates the release of her new EP I’m Making Friends With Silence through an honest and philosophical conversation with host Chloe Aftel on The Other Pod. K. Flay (Kristine Flaherty), reflects on her start in the music industry while in school at Stanford, the influence of her psychology and sociology studies, and her musical and personal evolution from early records like Life as a Dog to now. She speaks on the importance of trust and reliability above all else and the transformative nature of her queer awakening. HighlightsK. Flay’s coming to terms with losing hearing in one ear and processing that loss through music;Her songwriting and creative process: developing lyrics, melody, and chorus and drawing inspiration from rap and hip-hop;Reflections on key songs like "Punisher," "Mean It," and "Are You Serious?"The importance of self-trust in life and in art. K. Flay (born Kristine Flaherty) is a singer, songwriter, and rapper known for blending elements of indie rock, electronic, and hip-hop into her unique sound. K. Flay's breakthrough came with her debut full-length album, Life as a Dog (2014), and she later achieved critical success with her 2017 album, Every Where Is Some Where, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song with the hit "Blood in the Cut." Her most recent full-length studio album MONO came out in 2023, and her newest release, Making Friends With The Silence, reworks some of her past songs into new sounds. Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America.Support The Other Pod on Patreon for episode extras and The Other Questions lightning round!Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeaftel to stay up to date on new work.Find all episodes of The Other Pod here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support.