This is the Kit: Kate Stables on ‘Off Off On,’ Wordplay, and Lizzo

Kate Stables also talks about the evolution of the This is the Kit sound, working with a wide range of producers over the years such as John Parish, Josh Kaufman, and Aaron Dessner of the National. She also contributed vocals to the National’s I Am Easy to Find and toured with the National to promote that album, but not as an opening act—as a featured vocalist. It was during the downtime on this tour that she wrote much of the material on Off Off On, the title of which she says is partially related to the way our moods change, although circumstances in the real world may stay the same, and she also likes this title because she likes people to say those words together.

“It’s funny to get people to say, ‘This is a song off Off Off On’” she says.

Or, to get other people to craft a headline that says “on Off Off On.”

Incidentally, Kate Stables applies a similar logic to the This is the Kit moniker; she likes how the phrase feels like “a physical experience in your mouth.”