Letters from musicians: Kate NV

As it’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions, we reached out to a number of musicians to hear about their varying feelings, realities and experiences. From the ones who replied us back, we collected some answers. We will be publishing these interviews one by one. 

Moscow based musician Kate NV replies below. Kate Nv is at number 4 on with Room for the Moon on our Best Albums of 2020 list. 

It’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions. How has your work been affected? 

Musically I made almost nothing during 2020. Only remixes. It’s officially the year of remixes for me. I felt really terrible because if this so, I even had to go on vacation to finish this “circle of doing nothing” properly.

How has your personal experience been in terms of “adaptation”? 

I had very nice lockdown in spring and then awesome summer and then a very bad and depressive fall+winter. I really thought I’m going to be fine but got caught by apathy and didn’t have enough energy to go through it.

What are your demands?

I realised that my biggest demand is sun. The year without traveling clearly showed me that it’s impossible to live in Moscow because there is no sun. I can handle the cold but I can’t really handle grey sky. I wish I could tho, but I can’t.

How has it affected your approach to music in general? How traceable is it in your recent work? 

Since I didn’t make that much during the pandemic—I can’t really tell but everything feels a bit more pointless than it used to be, which is fine of course. I guess I became so vulnerable and emotionally fragile that I can’t even start recording. But I hope I will after the proper rest.

What is your main motivation? 

My biggest motivation is to start something from scratch and see what happens next. It’s like building a tree house when you’re a kid. You do something because of the excitement. As a kid I loved the process of creating something more than actual result. It’s still the same for me.

What has this past year taught you? 

I thought it taught me how to be patient but i’m not sure now. It definitely taught me not to take everything for granted and taught me how to appreciate small things.

Besides the pandemic, what other key changes had effect on you as a musician? 

Protests in Russia had effect on me as a human being living in Russia. It’s really scary and dark.

What pisses you off most? 

Political situation in my country.

Where do you see hope?

I see hope in people. 

This interview is originally published in Turkish in Bant Mag. No: 74, our special music issue. 

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