The uniqueness of this artist and her approach to music as an art form kept the fans excited about the new project. Kate NV fascinates on many levels, and her music reflects the talent behind the artist. Beautiful and deep vocals in many languages, as well as unconventional production create electric feelings and bright musical experiences in her new album, Room for the Moon.
Kate’s latest record, inspired by ‘70s and ‘80s Russian and Japanese pop music opens the door for the world to see her twisted and wonderful vision. The vocals penetrate the album and almost feel like an illusion. Each song tells its own story and brings the listener to a different world of sounds and tones. With a slight hit of melancholy and loneliness, Room for the Moon excites with the different layers and bittersweet atmosphere. The artist’s creativity and colourful imagination bring new elements to the music and build a fascinating journey with many surprises and turns.
Before you started your solo career, you performed in a band, how did that experience influence your music?
I still play in a band. It gives me a lot because I have to collaborate and communicate with other people. We improvise all the time, and this thing is always about being a good listener, a careful, not selfish companion. It’s a constant conversation, not only with music but also with other people’s vision of it. And it’s always interesting.
Do you think that the new record is a continuation of для FOR or it’s an entirely separate project?
I started making the songs way before I started working on для FOR; it happened very naturally and on its own. One of my most important rules is that I don’t force myself to write any music that I supposedly ‘need to write’. In general, when I realize that I want and like to do ambient music, I write ambient music. I had to go down a long path before returning to the songs, but in the end, it seems to me that they were waiting for me. Everything comes right on time, I guess. Of course, the new album is a continuation of the past because without the past, there would have been no definite experience and, perhaps, I would have been a completely different person and could not have written the songs that I wrote.
The album seems very personal and intimate. Was that intentional or did it come to you naturally while you were working on new music?
It’s great that it seems very intimate and personal, but it certainly was not intentional. My main rule is to be as honest as possible when writing music. Apparently, with this approach, intimacy is born because you open up – and not only to yourself but also to the potential listener. In a way, you become very vulnerable but very honest.
The ‘70s and ‘80s pop influences are very visible in all of your records. What about this sound feels so special to you?
This is my childhood, the atmosphere I grew up in. When I was a child, I watched a lot of Soviet films for kids that always had great soundtracks. Music was sometimes silly but very emotionally bright and with an incredible atmosphere and very touching. However, the coolest thing in the music from the films was that it seemed to be part of the picture, but it was always as independent as possible.
What inspired the title of the latest album, Room for the Moon?
This refers to a really small room; a small room for a huge moon. It’s like enormous feelings are placed in a person’s small heart. Viktor Pivovarov, a Moscow artist, believes that the human soul lives in a small room, but this room can contain whole worlds. So in this giant moon, there is a tiny room. But if you stand nearby on a human scale, you won’t be able to see even the walls of this room. This room does not exist for you. It is about how everything is relative and how your imagination can represent anything.
You sing in Russian, French and English on your records. Why did you decide to mix languages and how does that contribute to the narrative?
Music is a language everyone understands, text is just an extra layer that reveals the author’s idea. Voice for me is the same instrument as everything else in the song. Phonetically, the languages are very different and it seems to me that the songs themselves decide in which language they want to sound. This is very similar to choosing the right instrument for the solo part and choosing between clarinet or flute.
Do you base your music more on real-life experiences or imagination? Or is it a mixture of both?
In general, it seems to me that imagination is quite a reality; it can just be used in many ways. We almost all live in our imaginary worlds. We often think of ourselves through our imaginary ideas of what people think we are. So basically, our imagination is a huge part of our life, we just don’t notice it. So it’s definitely great to think about how we use it and maybe guide it towards a more creative path.
How did you find the confidence in your music and self-expression?
I think I’m full of doubts, really. Perhaps I have no doubt only when I write something and like it – in these moments of happiness and joy, I’m very sure of what I am doing. But they don’t last forever. Probably, if you stop doubting, then it’s like deciding that you know everything, which means that nothing interests you. And there is no movement without curiosity. Stagnation is not my goal.
Are there any other art forms that inspire you? Films, fashion, literature…?
I am very inspired by John Cage.
You previously mentioned that Moscow is a big inspiration for your records. Would you ever move into a different city and see if you can find different influences there?
Yes! I have a difficult relationship with Moscow (like everyone else). This is a loving woman, very tender and caring, but vulnerable and tough. It seems to me that Moscow does not know how to forgive and can quite toughly deal with those who offend her. But I would love to live somewhere else, it’s always seemed to me that I am a person capable of living only in a big city. But recently, I thought that I would live somewhere in the wilderness. Maybe I will change my mind as soon as I get there.
