Conventional thinking would suggest that pop princess Taylor Swift and alternative agitator Kathleen Hannah don’t have much in common, but that doesn’t stop Elizabeth le Fey from making a strong case otherwise.

Reached in California, where she’s preparing to hit the road for a West Coast tour, the artist known as Globelamp notes that both artists have become icons because of their ability to inspire. Hannah’s seminal band Bikini Kill is at least partly responsible for le Fey’s decision to make music; when she left California for Olympia, Washington, after graduating from high school, part of the lure was the chance to intern at K Records, which Bikini Kill has strong ties to.

Swift, on the other hand, has shown a generation of impressionable young kids that there’s nothing wrong with being strong.

“I’ve been listening to old Taylor Swift records, and also Neil Young—a real random mix that doesn’t really sound like my music,” le Fey says by phone. “There’s something about Taylor Swift’s country music that I really like. She’s not afraid to talk about her emotions. She’s been slut-shamed by people going, ‘Look at all the boyfriends you’ve had,’ but look how successful she’s been. People can really relate to her and the way that she’s been so openly vulnerable and has put her heart out there.

“I’ve always thought it was weak for a girl to be like, ‘I love you.’ But then I had a kind of 360 turn where I realized it’s really powerful to be honest and go, ‘This is how I feel!’ Like, you can be a strong woman and have all these emotions.”

Le Fey knows a thing or two about having powerful emotions, and also about the way the unwashed rabble are more than quick to judge people they’ve never met. Punch “Globelamp” into Google and, pretty quickly, you’ll discover that she was once part of the buzz band Foxygen, members of which recruited her based on her solo work. That relationship eventually got ugly, with le Fey and her former Foxygen bandmate Sam France ending up entangled in a mess of restraining orders and allegations of abuse, both physical and mental.

“I’m glad that the story’s online—that way, if someone wants to know about it, I don’t have to explain it all the time,” the singer says. “I can just go, ‘There’s an article, if you wanna actually read about it.’ But it was traumatic—I had PTSD at one point, not just because of that, but a lot of other things that had accumulated. But being depressed really helped me write songs, because that’s what I’ve always done.”

In fact, Globelamp’s debut full-length, The Orange Glow, can sometimes be read as a therapeutic record. Check out “San Francisco”, where lyrics like “She was the star of his video” and “The girl’s gotta go/His mama says so” become doubly devastating once you know the Foxygen back story.

But more than just an emotional exorcism, The Orange Glow is a record of deep beauty, with le Fey’s sprites-in-the-forest vocals backed by strings and chamber-pop piano.

Le Fey admits that it’s funny she first found her artistic footing in Olympia. The city is famous for its take-no-prisoners guitar bands, whereas Globelamp’s sound is more an enchantingly hazy strain of Pacific Northwest psychedelia.

Le Fey’s next record, which she’s now busy working on, might very well find her veering off in a new direction. As much as she loves Bikini Kill, a certain Taylor Swift has also opened up her mind.

“My songs that everyone always really likes—ones like ‘Controversial’ and ‘Washington Moon’—started as jokes where I was making fun of things in my life. The songs that I didn’t overthink or put a lot of effort into are everyone’s favourite songs. I do have some poppy hooks, but in the past I’d always fight them. Now I’m embracing them. I don’t want to be Taylor Swift, but there’s something about her vulnerability that I like.”

Globelamp plays the Cobalt on Saturday (August 13).