Exploring desires
Keep singin´, keep whistlin´, keep singin´... is a kind of beautiful
mantra that could perfectly describe the spirit of Miss Kenichi. Her music is
one of those unexpected things one lives in life. It came to me thanks to other
musicians and the only thing I can say is thank you so much for this wonderful
pleasure. Someone described her music as a country folk sound but Miss Kenichi’s
songs are too personal to be reduced this way, they are born from creation as a
need, as an exploration of the present. She swims all the rivers where ghosts
are, all the musical dimensions born from the collision time. While she presents the
songs from her latest Fox she's composing again. It's time for creating new times, new desires. It's time for driving her senses to the unexpected perceptions. And I will listen to them.
You
are presenting the song Ghosts of the river.
Could you describe your own river?
Oh, that´s a question! Well, my
first association was that my own river is art of any kind. A wide, steady
stream.. Painting, poetry, dance, music, movies, whatever it is, if it´s any
good then it connects me to the better part of me. The side of me that is not
afraid , but courageous, honest and free.
Your
debut album was titled Collision time.
Is it a personal collision or a description of the current times?
At time I wrote the songs it
was definetely a personal collision, but in a general way, if that makes any
sense. The reference the songs have to my own life usually reveals itself to me
much later. At that time I felt my world collapsing, but in slow motion. No
major catastrophe, but erosion everywhere, I was a nervous wreck with the
constant feeling of doom. So I basically sang in the dark like a child whistles
in the woods to keep the monsters away. Music was the only thing that calmed me
down and Collision Time was the last song to be written on the record. I wrote
it the night before the last day of recording. It came out of nowhere. And gave
the perfect title for the album.
You
describe your music as an American southern sound, but you are born in the
woods of the south of Germany. Sweet home Alabama?
Oh well, I never really said
that. Somebody just described my music and I guess what this person meant was
that you can´t really tell which country it was made in. I just make the music,
wanting a certain sound or having certain pictures in my head without always
knowing the reason for that. . I am not such a big fan of labeling it., yet I
understand that it´s necessary to do so sometimes.
But it is certainly true that I
was born in an very small town, surrounded by woods. We didn´t have more than 4
TV channels and my family didn´t go to see theatre plays or such. So growing up
there, the most exciting things you could do were forbidden things, if you know
what I mean. But I found rescue in music, books and especially in poetry. I
sucked it all up . I was constantly reading, writing and drawing. I guess I
unnerved many people, walking around reciting poems and telling them that
poetry is the best thing in the world...hahhaha. Everybody was just like: yeah,
whatever...I got some Nintendo business to do....
Your
latest album is Fox. What
distinguishes it from the first one?
Recording my first record was
the first time to ever be in a recording studio. Now that I think about it , it
is actually kind of magical. I met the person that I recorded it with at the
first presentation of my songs. I can´t even call it a concert, since I sort of
auditioned for a gig in a bar. I didn´t have demos, so I had asked the owner if
i could come and play and then he could decide if I get the gig or not. I
showed up a week later around 2 am and he made me play in front of the last
little group of people that were still in the bar .. . I didn´t know them, but
everybody really liked what I did and it turned out that some of them were
musicians , some of them worked for a record label, there was a music manager
and the guy who owned a recording studio around the corner. What a crazy
coincidence! We recorded two songs that night, and they both ended up on
Collision Time.
When I recorded FOX two years
later, I was more experienced and had more knowledge about recording and
playing and everything. I made choices more consciously. It was magical again,
but in a different way.
One
of the songs is No water. Finally,
your river is dead?
No water is a song about
desire. About a hole in your chest that can´t be filled. The seasons change and
the years go by and you are still full of desire for something you don´t even
know what it is. But at the same time that keeps a fire burning. It´s the
engine that keeps you going, makes you walk through fears and desaster and
sadness , through love and life and all that, because the big revelation or the
relief can eventually be found somehwere.
One
of my favourite titles is Light blue dust,
I personally think is a deeply beautiful image. Where does it come from?
Light blue dust describes the
feeling, when something really intense happens, may it be good or bad, and
everything turnes into slow motion. You feel like everything is unreal and you
are one of the figurines in a snow globe. Your world is being shaken and
shimmering dust is falling down on everything. It´s sad and gloomy and beautiful
at the same time.
Where
is your Limbo?
I was thinking about the
possibility that you meet everybody you have unfinished business with again in
Limbo. So you better take care of stuff now , because it eventually comes back
at you and hits you even harder. The man who shoots the dog, because its
barking, but the barking won´t dissapear and keeps haunting him throughout the
nights...a reminder of all the bad things he has done, his own conciousness.
You can´t get away from yourself, you can drown it, you can stuff it down , but
one day its gonna come up and back at you.
Are
you afraid of The beast?
The Beast is self-destruction,
self-hatred, living below your abilities and giving in to the fear , a feeling
of not being good enough, procrastination, questioning everything to your
disadvantage, not trusting in your strength and splendour. It´s raging inside,
eating you alive . I wanted to tear that thing out of my chest.
Mountain high is a challenge or an obstacle?
It´s a challenge, that makes
you wanna overcome the obstacle.
Imagine
yourself in an abandoned and isolated factory. What does it suggest you?
It´s just waiting to be filled
up with new energy of any kind. Somebody should be dancing in here.Classical
music. A choir. Friction.
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Miss Kenichi website www.misskenichi.com
Photo by magical Antje Taiga Jandrig
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