by David Wilikofsky
для FOR, Kate NV’s sophomore album, tested the limits of what a synthesizer could do. Across ten mostly wordless tracks, NV created complex compositions; at times they shimmered with an ambient glow, at others they pulsed like a Steve Reich piece. Vocals were rare. After writing and recording the album, NV had spent “almost a year and half sitting, at best, or bending over the table”. At the end of it, her body “rebelled, on some kind of physical level”. When she began working on the songs that would become Room for the Moon, it was with a desire to rediscover her voice.
You can hear echoes of her previous album, but those same sounds are reconfigured to create lush pop soundscapes. Although the album holds together as a single statement, individual songs have their own distinct character and style. One contributing factor is language; NV sings in Russian, French or English at various times, using the sound of the language as a tool to add to the atmosphere of the track. But even more than that, the compositional choices differentiate tracks. From the slinky rhythms of “Ça Commence Par” to the mysterious “Marafon 15” to the pop hooks of “Plans”, each song brings something different to the table. Tying everything together is NV’s voice, which can majestically soar above the music one minute and fall back to add wordless texture the next.
Musically, NV draws from a lot of places. Tracks like “Du Na” wouldn’t have felt out of place on для FOR, exuding the same sort of burbling calm. Others like “Plans” or “Sayonara (Full Moon Version)” feel especially indebted to Japanese pop music, but the influence of both the smooth sophistication of city pop and the more eccentric tendencies of technopop can be heard throughout the album. You can also hear echoes of other female pop iconoclasts like Lizzy Mercier Descloux or Jun Togawa. While the record feels very modern, it doesn’t feel like much else out there; NV is operating in a lane of her own, combining these influences into something original.
One of music’s great powers is to transport you, and on this album Kate NV has created ten tracks that will do just that. Room for the Moon, more than any album I’ve heard so far this year, is escapist music. NV has conjured her own hermetic world on each track, with the whole feeling as much like an album as a collection of short stories. Perhaps this is best exemplified by watching the music videos for the lead singles; whether depicting a television anchor in “Plans” or a character seemingly straight out of a fairy tale in “Marafon 15”, they each operate in their own universe with its own distinct visual aesthetics. Luckily they are welcoming universes, and ones I anticipate returning to many times this year and beyond.