Tone Glow 097: Kate NV
An interview with the Russian musician about her recent album 'WOW', her collaborative project 'Decisive Pink', and more.
Kate NV
Ekaterina Yuryevna Shilonosova is a Russian singer-songwriter and producer who’s had many lives: she’s the frontwoman of the post-punk band Glintshake, has spent time with the Moscow Scratch Orchestra performing compositions by Cornelius Cardew, and has a solo project called Kate NV. The albums under that moniker have resulted in some of the most ebullient art pop of the past decade. Her latest album WOW was made around the same time as her previous LP Room for the Moon, and features largely instrumental pieces that cull from a variety of influences, including one of her favorite artists: the Japanese producer Nobukazu Takemura. More recently, she and singer-songwriter Angel Deradoorian joined forces as Decisive Pink, and released their debut album Ticket to Fame. Joshua Minsoo Kim talked with Kate NV on March 19th, 2023 via Zoom while she was in Belgrade prepping for her upcoming American tour. The two had previously talked together for a feature on Bandcamp Daily, and this new conversation discusses her new records, growing up in Tatarstan, understanding the voice and language as an instrument, and more.
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Who is Kate NV right now, on March 19th, 2023 at 11:30AM? If it helps, you can think about where you are now compared to your previous albums.
Kate NV: I think the best way to describe myself at the moment is that I’m in transition. I’m somewhere in between, like in limbo. Everything is uncertain, even more uncertain than during the [pandemic lockdown]. I’m not in my home, I’m in Belgrade. It doesn’t feel like home and it’s not gonna become my home. This is the worst part of everything: you feel very ungrounded. If I compare right now to my other albums… it’s funny because you tweeted that I keep evolving with each album and, ironically, WOW (2023) was finished around the same time I made Room for the Moon (2020), so it feels really old.
Yeah, I saw that some of the tracks were at least six years old.
For instance, “nochnoi zvonok” and “razmishlenie” are from 2014 and 2015, which was the BINASU (2017) era. I finished two albums together and I brought them to RVNG Intl. and I said, hey, I think you may want to release this one because it’s more in the style of the record label, but they wanted to release both and said we should do Room for the Moon first. To me, both records came from the same person, and right now… you know, as part of the context that’s happening right now, I’ve been thinking, “What am I gonna do about being a joyful person and making joyful music? Are people expecting that right now?” Half a year ago people were releasing sad music and I was thinking about how I had this very happy record (laughter). I had a lot of concerns about it. I’m so happy and surprised—and I’m not pretending, like, (in a fake tone) “oh I’m happy!”—I’m just so happy to be releasing this record (hearty, jubilant laugh). It’s so unbelievable.
Right now I’m just trying to figure out how to make music and how to finish the tracks I started a couple years ago. I have a lot of pop tracks on the way and I’m trying to catch the mood. I’m trying to find a proper place to do it. I have two weeks to prepare for my concerts in America and I’m not gonna be making music, but I really need to because that’s the thing I love most.
I spent a month and a half in Moscow during the fall, trying to make music. I just let go, and I didn’t want to think too much about the way my music looked or sounded. It turns out that I still make very lighthearted music, though with a tiny bit of sorrow. I make emotional work (laughter) but it’s not being released right away when the world is collapsing… I need time. I wonder how long it’s gonna take me to finish those tracks I made during the fall. Maybe people will hear it in seven years and be like, “What is happening to Kate? Why is she so sad?!” And it’ll be because they were recorded in 2022 (laughter).
You mentioned that you’re happy with the response to the album. What has the response been from people in Russia? I only keep up with English-language publications, really.
It’s interesting that you ask that because the only review I’ve read in Russian, which I just saw randomly, came up when I opened Facebook. It’s not even a proper magazine, it’s just a blog, and another band’s album was getting reviewed along with mine and they tagged me. Out of curiosity I decided to read it and the language this person used was very… it was weird. Everything was fine and this person wasn’t saying anything openly bad but the sentences were disturbing, and I felt so gross after reading it. It’s like this person was being pushy and trying to deliver a certain vibe while also being rude—it’s hard to describe. He also mentioned Kedr Livanskiy and it felt misogynistic in many ways. I will say that I read it in the middle of the night; maybe if I read it again it’ll be different. And… that was the only Russian review (laughter).
I can see what you mean, like they’re writing in a way that feels really authoritative but is also, like… obviously wrong?
Yeah he mentions some references and it’s just like… no (laughter).
I wanted to ask about being in Belgrade. How does it compare to Moscow, and what things do you miss about Moscow?
That’s a good question because I think I have a weird relationship with Belgrade. I wish it were different. A lot of my friends love the city but it’s not the city where I feel most comfortable. Sometimes things can be chill in a good way, but here I feel… maybe it’s too chill. And maybe it’s just my ADHD that makes it so I can’t work in this way. It feels like I’m under a rock and have no energy to do stuff; I feel helpless. It’s like you’re trying to do your best but you’re constantly hitting a wall. It’s very important for me to get on the tail of any energy, where you can hop on and ride it, but I feel like there’s nothing to hop on to here.
Of course Moscow is super stressful right now. The fall was insane because of the draft. It was emotionally unbearable. I remember when everything happened, all of my friends—the musicians—left the country except for a couple of friends and my keyboard player because he was gonna leave a little bit later. We were trying to do a concert and had to rehearse. Usually my brain is really fast. It’s hard to get to the point where I start working, but once I’m there it’s really fast, and he’s the same. We actually thought we’d only need a couple rehearsals but we needed seven! And it’s because we were so dysfunctional. We couldn’t play piano—it was so hard to play, as if our hands were not listening to our brain… I’ve never experienced anything like that.
The only thing that I miss about Moscow is my friends, though they’re not even in Moscow right now. I also miss my workspace—my devices, my synthesizers, all the things that I have and can use. It’s very simple, ordinary stuff. Sometimes I don’t have the proper cables and I think about how convenient it’d be if I had them here, but I don’t! You have to get ready for these live shows but you’ve left your device at home, and it’s not even your home anymore, and you don’t even know where it is exactly—maybe it’s at your mom’s place, maybe at your dad’s, maybe in the studio. I’m trying to figure out how to live in this situation. I am checking my privilege though; I’m lucky that I’m here and am still able to do stuff, but it can be tough emotionally. I’m happy that the album was released because it literally lifted my spirits so much with how people have reacted. It’s been really helpful because I’ve been through some dark stuff this past year.
I’m happy that the album release has helped with that.
I’m very, very happy.
I saw a tweet you made about how you were preparing for tour and were watching older videos. You were lamenting because you said you were more fun and bold in the past, and that you feel dumb and scared now.
Yeah (laughs).
Can you talk more about that? How has it been wrestling with these thoughts throughout the past week?
I had a concert about a week ago and I got really stressed out because I couldn’t decide what to perform. I wasn’t ready with WOW and the problem is that I never make music thinking in advance about how I’m going to perform it—I just make music! (laughter). Sometimes I’m like, “Kate, why did you do this to yourself.” Especially right now, when I’m thinking about doing a guitar record when I’m not a cool guitar player and probably won’t be able to perform it live, but I still really want to make it anyway. When people tell me to perform those songs I’m gonna be like, “I don’t know how!”
Before the show I went into this dysfunction mode and I couldn’t even start, I couldn’t do anything about it. I was so stressed and started going through videos and saw that I was doing crazy stuff, just screaming. There were videos of me improvising during the для FOR (2018) period and right now, I’m lowkey scared to improvise. I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing, because sometimes when you get too familiar with stuff and feel confident, you follow the same musical paths, you choose a safe place. Part of me understands that I need to get myself out of my comfort zone. I’m still struggling, thinking about how hard and complicated it is.
I watched some videos from a New York concert when I was touring with Jessy Lanza and I was literally running around the stage screaming “konnichiwa!” Would I do that right now? Am I crazy enough to perform like that, or would I think it’s too much? It never crossed my mind that it was too much back then, and that’s why it made me feel weird, like I used to be more open-minded. With the level of uncertainty in my life right now, it made me so ungrounded. I think it led me to a point in my creative life where I feel uncertain and uncomfortable too. I think I need to discuss this with my therapist (laughter).
I understand what you mean. It’s also like, when you’re younger you can be a bit more reckless and you’re not really thinking about how that all reads, and then you get older and start to act more cautious. It’s annoying that inexperience is sometimes so important in being adventurous, because you’re just diving in at that point. Afterwards, when you gain experience, there are more expectations and you have the knowledge of everything that was necessary—the struggle and pain and audacity—for that experience to happen.
I totally understand what you’re saying. I don’t want to become an old person who says, “I used to be fun.” (laughter). Nooooooo. No, no, no. Once you start thinking that something you used to do is embarrassing, that’s the end.
I feel like of all the musicians I’ve talked with, you’re the one who’ll be most fine. Maybe this goes back to the ADHD but you’re always unafraid to try new things.
I have so many things to work on and to finish, I can’t really die right now (laughter). I’m really curious about what’s gonna happen! Sometimes when I’m on a plane and there’s turbulence, if I don’t have my laptop with me, I’m like, “I can’t die right now, nobody’s gonna understand my projects! They’re such a mess, no one would be able to finish them!” But if I have my laptop with me it’s okay (laughter).
What was the most difficult song to complete on WOW?
You know, everything was… really easy to finish (uproarious laughter). The only track that was maybe a little more difficult than the others was “slon (elephant)” but not because it was difficult. I make music pretty fast when I make it. Sometimes it takes a lot of time because I have ADHD. With that track, the mixing was the issue—it sounded blurry and I remixed it a few years later when I had the other tracks made, and I was like, okay this is the best I can do, maybe the mastering can save me (laughter). People usually think I’m a perfectionist, polishing the tracks like crazy, but I’m not.
“oni (they)” took me a while to finish. I came up with the melody in 2016; I started the track in Red Bull Studios in New York. I finished “Not Not Not” [from Room for the Moon] at that moment and then I started “oni.” They had a cool synthesizer, an OB-6, and I decided to go through all the patches in two days—there are 1000 patches—and by the end of the second day I thought I was gonna throw up (laughter). I don’t recommend people do that. But that’s how “oni” appeared. I continued to work on it in Kyiv. My boyfriend at the time lived there and I did the middle part of the track there and then the last part of the track was finished in Moscow, maybe half a year later.
When I make music I find exciting, I get so happy that I can’t actually continue working on it. That’s what was happening with “oni,” in the middle part where there’s drums with flangers, I made it in Kyiv and I became so obsessed. I thought it was so much fun and was listening to that part forever and ever. It took a long time to calm down and not be so excited about that moment (laughter).
You asked Foodman for contributions on the lyrics to “oni (they)”. Can you talk about that?
I started the track in 2016 and I can’t remember if I knew him… we were both on Orange Milk Records. I don’t know if I listened to his music but I remember there was this album cover that I really loved—one of the best covers they have—and I met up with him in 2017 because there was a concert that was a record label showcase. I still think to this day it was one of the best festivals I’ve ever attended, one of the best concerts in my life. The lineup was insane, it was just so good.
That was the first time I saw Foodman play live and that’s how we met, and then right after I traveled to Kyiv and came up with the melody for “oni.” I thought it sounded like it should have [vocals] in Japanese. I was like, who do I know? And then I emailed him to see if he’d be interested. Maybe right now I’d be too embarrassed to do that but in 2017 I just did it. I sent him a short file with me singing the melody, and he was like, “Oh that’s a cool melody!” I asked him to come up with something simple, like childish lyrics. He thought about it and sent me an email a week later with text, and he also sent a file of him singing.
That’s so cute.
It was so, so, so cute! I was literally smiling when I got it. We’ve been waiting for so many years for this to get released. I feel like it’s the wildest collaboration that could’ve happened with Foodman. Like, asking a producer to just come up with lyrics (laughter). He’s so amazing; he completely got the vibe. I think the whole story is amazing.
I think that track really speaks to something I really admire about your work, which is that you’re so willing to experiment in different styles and understand how their mood can feel specific to a certain language. Obviously you’ve sung in multiple languages, and there’s a different personality that each language has, and I feel that myself when I speak in English versus Korean. You’ve sung in Japanese and French and Russian and English, I’m curious what it’s like for you to sing in all these different languages.
You are completely right in that music tells me what language I should use. And I think it’s more connected to the phonetics of a specific language; it’s all about the way you pronounce the words. Like, the way I speak in English is in a more Russian way. It’s forming here (uses her finger to circle an area of her mouth), while British English… it sounds like they have a ball in their mouth (laughter). It’s like something round is in their mouth, like some airy ball. American English doesn’t sound like they have a ball inside. But they open their mouths really wide compared to Russians, who don’t open their mouths that much. Phonetically, it makes you use your chest differently, the way you push the air through your lungs to your mouth.
Your voice is the most relatable instrument because almost all people can speak and they’re using their voice all the time. When you think about it as an instrument, it makes sense to think about the language, because you have to think about it alongside all the other instruments. For a track you may choose between a trumpet or clarinet or saxophone or flute, and while you may still have to blow air in order to play, they all sound different. It’s the same thing with language.
Wow is a lot more instrumental than Room for the Moon, but you do have these vocalizations where you’re singing “ah, ah, ah” and stuff like that. I’m curious, do you feel like when you’re singing these wordless passages you’re doing so with a Russian language mindset? Does that even come to mind with these sputters?
I’ve never thought about that. I think for really simple sounds, like if they’re not a sound that only exists in the Russian language, they’re maybe more… international? (laughter). That’s a good question. In Russian, for instance, “ah” and “oh” are not (speaking in an English manner) “a” and “o”. It’s very short and straightforward. We also don’t have an “r” we have a (makes trill). So maybe it is more in Russian? That’s a surprise to me. But maybe they’re just noises and everyone can just do that.
And something I thought about is how there are all these noises, and then the track titles make reference to animals. There’s “early bird,” there’s “slon (elephant),” there’s “meow chat.” I was thinking about birdsong or different animal calls and how with all these sounds, despite us not knowing the specific meanings, they’re still representative of something. Can you speak to the animals mentioned in the track titles?
I usually give names to tracks at the last moment. When you’re making a track you can feel the vibe, but naming it a certain way gives it another layer of perception. For “early bird” it was very easy because there’s literally a real bird in the background, and I didn’t even put that many effects on it. I recorded it in the morning in Moscow. I was cycling with a friend all night and then at 3AM, we sat next to a bush beside a pond and there was this sole bird singing. I recorded it, and it’s literally an early bird! (laughter).
Birds are amazing. They sound like a car alarm. The sounds they make, and when they talk with each other… I really love it. Sometimes when I’m passing by trees and hear the birds talking, I’m always wondering what they’re talking about. Are they just repeating the same phrases over and over again, or is it different? It’s so sad that we don’t know exactly. I wish I had a translator because I would love to know. So yes, I’m inspired by animals but it’s a bit different [from what you said].
With “meow chat,” it was really clear. There’s a flute at the beginning that imitates a phone. My friend who is a flutist, I was recording him do free improv stuff, and then at the end of the session he said, “You know, I can play this thing.” And then he just played this sound of the telephone ringing. I was like, this is actually amazing! (laughter).
In 2011 or something, when Tumblr was a thing, I was following Grimes and she had a small attachment on the lower right corner of her page and it was a cat typing something, and the whole thing was called “meow chat.” You could type something and the cat would just respond with “meow meow meow.” I was trying to find that extension but I couldn’t because it was more than 10 years ago. It was so cool, and I thought the track should be called “meow chat.” I also used these voices I recorded of myself saying “mew mew mew” and it’s also part of another track, “razmishlenie (thinking).” These voices I recorded are like a line that goes through these tracks. With “slon (elephant),” I just thought it was the vibe (moves her body like an elephant’s trunk).
I love the movement (laughter). I know for this album you noted that you love Nobukazu Takemura’s music. When I listen to his music from the late ’90s and 2000s, it has the same childlike spirit that comes through in your albums. How’d you first stumble upon him? And what about his music do you want to come through in your own work?
That’s a very, very good question and I’m really happy you asked about Nobukazu Takemura. All of the Japanese music I’m really drawn to comes from my friends who were born in Far East Russia. It’s very close to Japan and because of that, they all have Japanese cars and they’re really into the culture. And they’re close to China too, and that affected them so much. They have the real food, not some European-style Chinese food (laughter). It’s an amazing part of Russia. The first people who started to translate anime into Russian were all from Far East Russia. The first manga stores in Russia were there. The internet became sort of affordable in the early 2000s, and you could actually download stuff, but it would take the whole night. I would download stuff overnight so I could wake up and have some music (laughter).
Yes, I totally remember that.
It was amazing. I actually loved that you needed to put in effort to get something, it made it more exciting. So they started to download Japanese music from the year 2000. These people were in their late teens and early 20s, and it all started from Shiina Ringo.
Same for me! That’s how it all started.
Yeah, and it’s because she’s a superstar—it was really easy to get her music. Especially in the early 2000s, there weren’t a lot of blogs happening, it was mostly LiveJournal. So yeah, it all started with Shiina Ringo and led to a bunch of crazy stuff. And she had records that were very clicks & cuts and experimental. She started as a rock princess and turned very electronic and then into an orchestral mode.
In the 2000s, when you’re a teenager or in your 20s, you’re listening to IDM and clicks & cuts. My friends started listening to Oval, LFO, all this music, and then it led to Nobukazu Takemura. He was on the other side of all this experimental stuff. It was glitchy and he had generated voices, and my friends showed me all of that. They told me to listen to him and that was a time on the internet when you didn’t have a lot of information about the artist. You had to imagine what they were like, what their ideas were. You discover one album and have to find more, but it was hard! We discovered 10th and it completely changed everything for us. It was so insane. It felt so fresh and surprising. It had pop melodies, it felt childish but also very complex. It became an all-time favorite, just legendary (laughs).
It influenced us a lot. I ended up dating the guy who showed me all this music for six years, and we’re still friends and we have a band together. This also led to other Japanese music from the 2000s, like Urbangarde. It was all this super pop music that ended up inspiring all the PC Music stuff. And then there was Katamari [Damacy].
It’s so interesting to hear about your experiences with those from Far East Russia, because I knew growing up that they were familiar with Korean music too. There would be Korean artists who played in Vladivostok, for example. And I knew about Russians online who would know about Korean music.
Yeah! And because of the proximity you just explored what was around you. People were really digging into stuff. I’m not from Far East Russia but I was really into anime so it really affected me. Growing up, it led me to this huge love for Japanese music. But at the same time, people ask me if I’m obsessed (laughs), and they feel like I’m pretending to love it. I was born in Tatarstan and Tatar music is also based on the pentatonic scale, so it’s in my core. I was raised with that kind of music, and all this felt relatable.
What was it like growing up in Tatarstan? What memories come to mind?
I love the fact that I was born and grew up in Tatarstan, that I was born in Kazan. There’s a moment when you move to the big city, when you go to Moscow, and try to rent an apartment and you see all these people who were born and raised there… it’s so much more convenient if you were born there. I used to wish I was born in Moscow, but now I don’t because I think being born in the multicultural environment of Tatarstan was great. Tatarstan has its own language—the Tatar language—and there are two religions, Orthodox and Islam. When I grew up I knew there were issues between these two different traditions. I studied architecture and in the last year of university, we had separate lectures dedicated to the Tatar mentality, because it was different from the Russian mentality. We had Tatar teachers and they were teaching us how to understand the mentality better if we wanted to stay in the region and build stuff.
There was this funny moment when I was tired and got on the wrong bus and it drove me to the villages next to the city. It was interesting because I was passing by the Russian village, and it looked very destroyed—there were these old buildings that needed to be fixed and it was just very gray, just not a pleasant view. And then I was passing by on the same bus to a Tatar village and it was very colorful, much more private, and everything was clean and very joyful. I found that a lot more relatable. There was this pleasant feeling, like I was welcome there. At the same time, there was a boundary set up so you couldn’t go past the fence unless you were invited.
I met up with a friend from Kazan here in Belgrade. We didn’t realize until recently that a person from Kazan cannot come to you as a guest if you don’t invite them. If there’s a party happening and you’re not invited, people from Kazan have trouble getting to the party because you need to be invited. It’s funny because I realized that I’m the same sort of person. If someone doesn’t invite me directly to something, I can’t go; I need to be invited.
What I learned growing up is that Tatarstan was a really joyful place. And at the same time, which is really interesting, Russia during the 1990s was so scary. I once had a conversation with Mike Banks from Underground Resistance and we talked a little bit. I didn’t know who he was at the time, I was just talking with him (laughter), and he was like “I’m from Detroit” and I was like “I’m from Kazan” and we started talking about those cities. I told him about Kazan and it felt like Detroit.
Growing up as a kid in Kazan, I remember it was kind of sketchy to go outside because it was very dangerous. I remember someone shot this old dude who lived in the building next to me. I grew up in that district and we had the most dangerous gang in the city and people were trying to get them for decades. It was interesting because I actually witnessed them getting arrested. I had a geography lesson and it was on the ground floor of my school, and there were windows that were looking out into a football field, and we saw the police approaching with masks and weapons and I think there were horses too. There were a lot of people wearing black, wearing balaclavas, and they arrested the whole gang. My whole class leaned towards the windows to watch, and our teacher was like, “Come back to your seats!” And this was geography class, like, no way (laughter). The teacher kept saying that this sabotaged her lesson and the principal, she was like, “No, let them watch it. They have to witness it.” And the whole class screamed out, “Hooray!” (laughter).
So that was my childhood. There were these joyful moments and very nice people, and Kazan people are the best, they invite you and are very welcoming and have food and tea. And then at the same time, there were all these other things happening.
Thank you for sharing all that. Do you feel like there are specific things about their music that seeped into your own work in some way?
I’ve been thinking about this recently and I actually think so, yes. Tatar music is really fast. It always reminded me of a river, like one that’s constantly moving. And this is also true of the language—the natives speak so fast and it can be hard to understand. If you go to the village and can understand them, you’re at the top level in terms of skill. I used to know it very well because I studied it in school, and I’m really grateful that we did because right now, I sort of understand Turkish because it’s in the same group. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey… there are so many similar words.
Kazan people love to celebrate life, in all aspects of it. So music for me was always fast and funny, and so were the dances. And all the ornaments were very colorful, and the flowers too. One of the best things about Tatarstan is that the symbol of the republic is a giant white leopard with wings. It’s such a mythical creature. And the symbol of Kazan is literally a dragon. Could it be more fantastic?
That’s amazing!
It’s amazing! I love it to my core. I love being born in a place with all these symbols. And also, the cover art for Wow reminds me of Tatar ornaments. There are these official ornaments of the culture that are like tulips and sometimes when I look at the cover from far away, it actually looks like one of them.
Oh yeah, I’m looking at pictures of the ornaments right now and they do look really similar.
Crazy, right? (laughter).
Earlier you mentioned that there was effort needed when you wanted to hear music. I’m wondering if you do certain things so you can still have that same experience today. I ask because you mention that you make music quickly and that sounds different from this process of waiting.
Even with making music, it takes me forever to get to the point where I’m just making it. And these other tasks are still connected to music but it’s not what I would love to do the most. I would be the happiest person in the entire world if I was just making music, hanging out with people, cycling, and sleeping. And sometimes eating. To me, making music is always a celebration. I’m trying to get rid of other things I need to do so I can fully enjoy the process. It still has this vibe of waiting the whole night to download a record; It can feel like a celebration where, after a whole day, I can finally get to the point where I record something.
That’s beautiful.
It is beautiful but right now I have so many tracks I started but I don’t have enough time to make music. I have to choose between finishing something that I already have and starting something from scratch, and I often choose making something new. I like doing that more than finishing, and that’s why I have so many hours of different unfinished tracks. I have at least four to five more records I could make, maybe even more. It’s like these tracks are on a shelf and they’re waiting in line to be finished.
I don’t have unreleased tracks, if they’re unreleased, they’re unfinished. I have one song that’s not released and it was supposed to be on Room for the Moon but I couldn’t come up with the lyrics—I didn’t have time! And it’s still pending. I’m trying to finish the tracks and let them all out, but I have so many and they have different vibes and I need to decide, like am I gonna make a guitar album right now or something else.
Can you talk about Decisive Pink? What do you bring to the band, and what do you feel like Angel Deradoorian brings that you can’t?
Good question. I think it’s an interesting combination because we’re very different, like yin and yang. One day I compared us to Chip ‘n’ Dale, where Angel is Chip and I’m Dale. She’s hilarious, she has the best sense of humor. Our approach can be very different. She’s very experienced and has been through a lot and I think it affected her a lot, and I feel more naive. I’m literally Dale (laughter). The music we make on our own is different, and you can clearly tell from our solo projects that… I have ADHD and she doesn’t (laughter). She’s more into calm, dronier stuff than me, while I think I’m more delusionally joyful (laughter). I’m really excited about stuff and she’s very present, she knows what she’s doing, she’s very in control, while I’m very random. But she’s also open-minded. I think it’s a good combination for the music because it feels more stable to me than when I usually make music.
At the same time, it’s interesting because we share a lot of things in common. The way we perceive music is different but we get the same vibe. I don’t know how to explain it but we get each other. We’re different and we appreciate it, and we have to discuss things to figure stuff out, but it’s really cool. We both really love Can, and Can is very fluid and open-minded, but they’re also very strict, which is interesting. I just thought they were these guys who started playing together but they have this academic background. It’s interesting that this love for the band brought us together on so many levels. The whole album was hugely inspired by German music, like Kraftwerk. And Kraftwerk is similarly open-minded but also strict, and that’s what I like about this music. It’s mathematical but in a chaotic way, and that’s what Decisive Pink is to me. It’s very pop, but very random. It’s very solid, but airy and free. It’s a combination of us both.
That makes a ton of sense. I love seeing how that comes together. There’s always a question I end my interviews with, though I don’t know if that happened during the last time we talked. And that question is, do you mind sharing one thing you love about yourself?
I don’t know if you asked me that last time.
Yeah that was really early on in my interviewing, I don’t know if it was something I was asking yet.
What I love about myself… (thinking). This is a good question. Have I ever thought about this? I don’t even know. My answer is probably gonna be different as soon as I end the call (laughs) but I think it’s my curiosity. It’s led me to so many amazing things, and I’m so grateful that I’m still so curious. My credo for so many years has been: “Why not?” Why not try stuff? If nobody’s gonna die, it’s fine. I’ve tried out so many things out of curiosity and it’s turned out so well. Sometimes during the process I can think, why did I do this to myself? But most of the time it turns out amazing.
Everything that happened to me during my creative life, and in my life in general, happened because I decided to try it out. I open the door, I talk to people, I apply for residencies. Like with Red Bull Music Academy, it completely changed my life and I only applied because I was curious,. All of my friends were saying, “Why do you need this? You don’t need it.” Just very unsupportive. And it took me several days to fill out the application, and I didn’t sleep and it was very last minute. My boyfriend was like, “Why are you doing that? It’s pointless.” And I was like, “Why not? Nothing’s gonna happen unless you try.” He didn’t understand that. And once I got it, all these people were like, “We should try to do this too!” (laughter). People should try more things. The world is collapsing, and you better tell people you love them, you better try things you’ve always wanted to—you might not have another chance in the future. I don’t want to live my life as if I have another one saved in my pocket.
Kate NV’s WOW is out now and can be purchased at the RVNG Intl. website. Decisive Pink’s Ticket to Fame is also out and can be purchased at Bandcamp. More information about Kate NV can be found at her website.
Thank you for reading the ninety-seventh issue of Tone Glow. Let’s try some things.
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