Katie Todd is working on a new album. If the opportunities presented are anything like those that stemmed from her last album, Mumbled Speech, she’s in for quite a ride.

The beauty of the Chicago singer/songwriter’s story is the independence of it — the open doors available for an artist willing to put themselves out there. The results this summer were a spot on Lilith Fair and an iTunes Single of the Week placement for “Love Love Love You” that garnered over 300,000 downloads. Here, she speaks to us about the future, the past year and how she works to make it all happen without going overboard.

SSv: Are you at home right now?

Katie Todd: Yeah, I’m home in Chicago. Right now we’re playing a little less live. We’re working on some new music, so we’re just trying to work through these new tunes and we’re in the pre-recording process now. Then we’ll get the new CD out soon.

SSv: When fans latch on or the powers-that-be at iTunes say they want your music, what are they saying?

Katie: In general, a lot of times we’ll get people talking about our arrangements and that they like them. A lot of people like the guitar — that’s always been a favorite. The vocals. I guess those are some of the things that stand out.

SSv: Have you seen a swell of people interested in the live show as well?

Katie: We’ve been really active through Twitter and MySpace and Facebook over this last year, so between those things and these shows, our fan base has increased pretty significantly.

SSv: You mention the social media responsibilities and being an independent artist. Do you enjoy doing that? Are you good at the admin side of things or do you wish that you could just go after the music? I just ask because it seems the musician has to do a lot more work today than they used to.

Katie: It’s definitely a new skill for me. If I had it my way, I’d just be writing and performing live and recording. The business side is definitely not my forte, but at the same time, I know that I have to do it. So we do whatever we need to do to try to get the music out there.

SSv: How do you balance that?

Katie: That’s a good question. Steve Wright is a huge help, because he’s very technologically savvy and I can’t say that I am. So it’s really nice to have someone like that when you can’t find something or can’t figure something out on the Internet to know that you have someone who can help you along. For me, that makes it more balanced as far as being able to still write and he can take of some those things.

SSv: The work is endless. You could always be writing another fan or posting another update. When do you know when to stop for a while?

Katie: We were just talking about this the other day. It’s never ending. You can drive yourself crazy wondering if you did enough. You can never do enough, so at some point, you just need to be okay with what you’ve done. At least to stay semi-sane, you have to say that enough is enough at times. [Laughs]

SSv: What have you learned about that?

Katie: That’s what is really nice about my position. As far as my band goes, they’re really incredible that way where if I get overwhelmed with something, I can call Steve up and tell him and he’ll take that off of my plate right away. Tonight is a great example. We were going to have a rehearsal tonight and then I said I’d actually like to have some time to myself to work on some of these new songs and they said that’s totally okay. They’re always very understanding and very helpful that way.

SSv: And then you get a random call that you have to do an interview? [Laughs]

Katie: [Laughs] No, that’s great.

SSv: You mentioned a new recording, so can you talk about that?

Katie: So I have an album’s worth of songs, but I definitely want to weed through the bad ones. I’ve been showing them to the band and we’ve been coming up with some unique arrangements with some of the newer songs. We’re not recording yet. We’re pre-recording. We’re doing some GarageBand type of recordings right now. Then within the next couple of months, we’ll get into the studio and get them recorded on a higher level.

SSv: What are you trying to do that’s different than the last time around?

Katie: In all honesty, I would say it’s still going to be, as far as songwriting goes, very similar to the last couple of albums and how they have been. However, the band I am playing with now is a completely different band. We have a couple other players — a guitarist, a trumpet player and a lot of backing vocals. They’re both jazz players.

In the past, my band mates were diehard pop players for the most part, so I think I’m really excited about this. Our drummer’s foundation is also jazz as well, so between the three of them, it will be a new sound from what we had in the past, even though it will still be pop songs because I come from a pop background. It will be an interesting mix, I would say.

SSv: When you say you have a pop background, what does that mean?

Katie: I actually grew up classically trained on piano, so if I had to go back to my complete roots, that’s what they would be. But just in terms of how I write now and how I’ve written in the past and the majority of the music I listen to nowadays… I shouldn’t say pop, because that’s not necessarily what I mean. When I say pop, I’m referring more to Wilco or Fiona Apple or Ben Folds or Feist — more along those lines. I think even some of those have little elements of jazz in there. That’s what I mean when I say that.

SSv: As you tour with with Cari Ray and others, what should people expect on tour?

Katie: With this band, we’re all very passionate people and we’re all inspired these days. So I hope it translates into a high energy show. We’ve all agreed that if there ever comes a time where any of us don’t feel it, that we wouldn’t play. That’s not the case. We’re very glad to be playing. Even with this summer, we feel we have a nice push that’s allowing us to stay inspired.

SSv: What’s the story for you after the first of the year?

Katie: Hopefully we’ll be well into the recording process then. Next spring, I would love to have a brand new CD ready to be released and then tour and continue to support that with live shows. Between now and then, we also want to look for opportunities online or live situations that we can do to help our career.

*Photos by Pamela Yasuko and Callie Lipkin