Violinist Laura Schuler released her second album under the guise of "Kate Birch" on 1 April 2022 via Red Brick Chapel Records. “The Fool” takes as its starting point a number of conversations Birch conducted in Switzerland as well as during her two residencies in New York, including one with a 84-year old female ballet dancer who practices drums for two hours every day, and one with a drug addict with a philosophical bent. The violin, sometimes in its “pure” sound, sometimes “treated”, lies at the core of her music, with percussion and electronic keyboards added later to produce a sound rich with detail and colour.

Schuler/Birch studied classical violin before starting to explore jazz and experimental music with violin as well as voice. Often composing for theatre and dance companies, she has worked with a variety of ensembles, and alongside musicians like Julian Sartorius, Tony Malaby and her brother Luzius with whom she founded an experimental music festival in the small town of Langenthal.Having recorded the album in her basement studio during the quiet days of 2020, Birch is celebrating the release of “The Fool” with a tour of Germany and Switzerland. In some of these, she will be accompanied by a percussionist and synthesist Clemens Kuratle.