Phillyist Interviews... Kate Havnevik

Right.
I am bringing a guy who plays more or less everything which is great. He's like a multi-instrumentalist. He plays the accordion, saxophone, keyboards and everything I can think of. He's perfect for me. I have a guy who plays up-right bass and electric bass. Then it's me on keyboards and I will be having to do some electronic tracks in the background in some form.

Okay. With transferring things that you have done on the CD - I've heard it, you used a symphony on some of the songs and there's a lot of electronic tracks. How do you transfer what you do on the CD to the live concert?
I've tried a lot of different things and what I think works best is to have some of it electronic, arranged on a backing track, and also to have some of the strings on the backing track because it's really important in the music, the strings. To mix it it in with live organic instruments, like an up-right bass and piano, trumpet - to make it a really good balance between organic and electronic. It has worked for us. It is the best solution. It's also the most reasonable. I have worked with string quartets before and it's a bit too much for me to start out with. It's better to start out a little smaller.

Does it make you nervous to use the electronic tracks at all?
Not at all. Every band that has anything electronic in the music uses electronic tracks on the stage. I recorded with Royksopp last year, who I hang with, and they were [doing the] same thing. It's really hard to perform the songs otherwise because most of the programming that is electronic you are not able to play it live. What you do is to play everything you can play live and the rest is running off the laptop.

Do you prefer to be on-stage or do you like to be in the studio creating?
I used to be very much a studio person. I used to spend all of my days in a dark studio with headphones on. Now when I started doing shows, I just love it. I love just connecting with people and hearing the audience. It's amazing to hear them shout out one of the song names on stage and they want to hear that song. I am actually really loving doing the live show now.

Good.
It's a nice reward after being in the studio for a long time.

How long were you in the studio for your....[hesitation] I don't want to butcher your CD's name, so will you pronounce it for me?
The name is Melankton [pronounced ma Lank ton].

Glad I asked, because I would have totally butchered it.
That's okay. It means - it's a Norwegian name, like a name of a person or something - it means, "black rose." That's why I chose that for the title of the album. It's a name I liked ever since I read a book, [a] Norwegian book, with a character named Melankton.

How long was the process of making the CD?
If I think about the day that I started writing string arrangements to the day it was mastered, it took from May to March. Which is nearly 10 months or so. It's a long process of recording all of the strings, working on the strings and doing a lot of things myself. In a way it slows things down because you have too much work to do. [laughing] And also it was my first solo album that I did myself and you do a lot of mistakes on the way. But I [think] it's a reasonable amount of time to spend on your album.

I do have to applaud you for doing things by yourself - the orchestrations/arrangements, etc. It's nice to have an artist who can actually do those things now.
Well, thank you. I have done string arrangements before, but on this album I had a couple of people doing string arrangements and I was like, "Who is going to do this?" and I was like, "I will." I bought different kinds of software and was like, "Okay, let's learn how to do it." It was a great way of learning and developing - feeling like you have to do it and you want to do it.

Has it been a huge relief to it finally being released in the U.S. and being out there?
Yeah. It has actually. It's been a big relief. In a way, I have kinda been waiting for this for a year, it feels like. Whenever my songs have been airing on different shows and people would ask, "When is the U.S. release?" and I never knew until this fall that there was going to be a U.S. release around this time. It's a big relief to have it out in the shops here. Of course it has been on iTunes for a while but it's something else when you have the actual album. I know for me, I like having the actual CD with the lyrics and the artwork.

Right. You just mentioned that you had some of your songs on some TV shows. I am a huge Grey's Anatomy fan.
Oh you are? Okay.

Yeah. Huge. It's been really wonderful to hear your music because I think it captures the essence of the show. I have to ask, do you watch at all?
If I watch Grey's Anatomy?

Uh uh.
Yeah. I haven't been watching it because when the show started it hasn't been so big in the U.K. and also they are very behind in the U.K. I think they are starting to air the show on a good TV channel that everybody can access, you know.

Okay.
I haven't watched it a lot, but I can tell you I have bought all of the DVDs. I am going to sit down and watch it whenever I have time -- maybe when I am on the road. I should watch it when I am on the bus or something.

There you go, you can watch it on the bus.
Exactly. I really want to see the show from the beginning to end because I have seen so many of the clips. I have seen all of the clips from my songs. I have my fans telling me what's happening in the scene. It's amazing to hear your music when they kiss, blah, blah, blah. But I am kinda like, "What's going on?" I want to know what happened before that.

It's definitely worth it.
Yeah, I am kind of a fan without knowing the whole storyline. But I know who everyone is in the show and the relationships between all of the people.

When you wrote the Season 2 finale [song] were you familiar with what was going on? How did the directors come to you do that?
They had already used one of my songs called, "Unlike Me." They asked me to make an a capella version for an episode. That song had already aired in the show. Then they asked me to write something for the final episode. They actually gave me a brief saying they wanted me to write a song about "devastating loss." That is what they said and I had to submit it within a certain time.

They didn't tell you the storyline of what was going on?
It was "devastating loss" and here you go. So I wrote the song, "Grace." When I saw the clip, they are actually making out [Meredith loses her panties in this scene], which is quite funny. It's really a sad scene as well.

It's interesting that they didn't tell you the storyline and that's what you came up with. That's very cool.
I guess when the song is ready and they know that they are going to use it or not, then they will send you a request of being able to use the song. They will tell you very briefly what is happening in the scene. But sometimes it actually changes as well. So sometimes you can get a hint of what happens. It's quite unclear, to be honest, until you see it.

You collaborated with Guy Sigsworth. How is that working with him - he's worked with so many awesome artists.
We have been friends now for a few years. We will just hang out and talk, have dinner and stuff. We know each other really well. It was great that he could take part in my album. The way that kinda happened was more or less because I have written so many songs with him. All of the songs that I have wrote with him he produced for the album. That is four songs on the album. He also helped out on one other song as well, with some of the production. It was a very natural thing that happened. Then I produced the rest myself. I have done a lot of songs with him and I am sure we will work a lot together in the future as well.

Good. What was your main inspiration for the album? Was it like pieces or was it one inspiration?
I think some of the inspiration was actually listening to some very old Scandinavian recordings. They have the most gorgeous string arrangements. That kind of inspired me to bring in the strings. And then when it comes to the song, I just wanted the songs to have a life of their own. I wanted them to be able to grow really big, from something really small to something really big. That's probably why I have long intros and sometimes upbeat endings. I just like to see the song go somewhere. I think adding the electronic element and the string element kinda gave the direction of the album. Apart from that I am very inspired by classical string music. Early on, I listened to a lot of classical music and my dad plays in an orchestra so I was very fond of that sound. I like mixing it with the new electronic thing and after working with Royksopp and Guy, I kind of, I began to play a bit with faster beats and things like that. I kinda love that "New Day," it is the most club-beat song, which the album isn't clubby at all. The album is really mellow. The last song just takes off. It's eight minutes. It goes off somewhere and I think that's kinda cool. I think it's leading into the next album.

You lead right into my next questions. It's great! With your next album, I heard that you were going to go a bit more "poppy."
Oh really.

Is that true? What's your next inspiration?
I think, popular or not popular. I think I am a pop singer already not in the way a lot of people expect that to be.

Right.
I have thought about the next album already. I think it is going to be a little more up. I think I have a different idea for the next album which isn't as string-based. It's a little fast and a little different. Rhythm will be very important as well as the beat. Rhythm, of course the songs are the most important. I haven't started recording yet. I have a collection of songs that I am waiting to have time to really work on them.

Cool. Are you going to do any collaborations with anyone? Or do you have any idea?
I don't have any confirmed collaborations. I wouldn't be able to mention anything but I am open to collaborations. There might be something but it's not confirmed.

I have heard from a lot of your fans and such (me too!) that would love to see you collaborate with Imogen Heap.
Oh yeah. We are friends. I love her music and we have talked about doing a collaboration for the last year or so but we have never had time to do it. If we are both in the studio at the same time then there might be something going on. It's nothing planned but it is something that we would both like to do.

Yeah. Schedules are always the crazy thing to put together.
If the right opportunity comes then it will happen.

That's awesome. What are your plans after this North American tour? Touring Europe?
My plans are to tour more places in America, where I haven't gone. We've only gone certain places. What we will do is go to Europe and do a lot of festivals during the summer. Gig a little bit in Norway and in the U.K. Then hopefully come back to America to do another tour.

Very cool. We are very excited for you to come to Philadelphia. Have you ever been here?
Actually I have been there once. I played with the Hotel Cafe tour in October/November. We played the World Cafe Live. [a bit hesitant]

Yes.
It's beautiful.

It's a beautiful venue.
I really look forward to coming back there.

We are so very excited for you to come. Good luck with the beginning of your tour and your CD. Thank you so much for letting us chat with you today.
Well thank you so much and we will see you in Philadelphia.

Definitely. I'll try to come and introduce myself.
Come and say hi. That would be great.

Great. Thank you so much.
Take care, bye.