Kate NV on the 9 Things That Inspired Her Excellent New Album, Room for the Moon

How Sailor Moon, Russian and Japanese ’80s pop, Soviet children’s films, and more influenced one of the coolest, most idiosyncratic pop albums of the year.
Kate NV Sailor Moon John Cage and more
Graphic by Drew Litowitz. John Cage photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images; Sailor Moon photo courtesy of Everett Collection; provided photos. 

Kate NV makes avant-pop that defies the ordinary, combining Russian and Japanese influences with a new-wave sensibility and featherlight vocals, but she says it’s the simplest things in life that excite her most. Over Skype from her apartment in Moscow, the artist born Kate Shilonosova compares the music on her third album, Room for the Moon, to the sensation of finding something special in the plainest objects in your bedroom, like a window or a plant, and exploring them with a childlike sense of wonder.

Speaking at a quick, spontaneous clip, Shilonosova explains that the album was recorded during the loneliest period of her life, and that the act of making it lifted her from the depths. “I hope people can feel that happiness by listening to the record, because it’s not a lie,” she says. Room for the Moon is also accompanied by homespun, dreamy visuals that bear out that sense of joy, drawing from some of Shilonosova’s favorite films as she alternately casts herself as a fairytale prince and a comically chic newscaster. Here, she details the myriad inspirations behind the starry-eyed album and its videos.

16th of September” by surrealist artist René Magritte

Kate NV: I’m a huge Magritte fan. This painting depicts my favorite part of the day, usually called the magic hour, when the sun goes down and everything becomes blue. It’s very quiet, almost like a tête-à-tête moment with you and the tree. There’s a level of intimacy that I relate to. My album may sound like a kaleidoscope of different funny tracks, but at the same time it’s a very intimate story. Things can be very bright and funny, but also very personal. This painting feels like Magritte is sharing something very personal.

“Red Cat” by Russian pop singer Vladimir Presnyakov

This is one of my favorite tracks ever. It’s so funny because it’s not about love or dating someone—it’s literally about a ginger cat. The cat is lazy and unlucky because, you know, ginger is a very complicated color. Not everyone likes ginger cats.

The way they filmed this video, it looks like he grabbed his pal and went outside in the backyard and was like, “Let’s just film here.” It’s literally in the playground with these long takes from the window. You can tell people were really inspired by Michael Jackson because he starts to moonwalk and breakdance. There was probably still an Iron Curtain in Russia when they filmed it so they didn’t have a lot of information about what was happening on the other side. It’s still this completely different, authentic stuff that we came up with because we tried to do something like the West. It feels so sincere and unique. It’s one of my daily videos I watch on YouTube.

Soviet fantasy-musical An Ordinary Miracle

This movie is about a wizard who lives in a house where everything looks very ordinary. He casts a spell on a princess and a man where they can’t kiss because if they do, he will turn into a bear. He knows that he loves her, and they want to be together but they can’t. In the end everything collapses. They decide that love is the most important thing, and he decides to kiss her, and nothing happens. It’s all about real life, because sometimes you think there is no magic but actually everything is magical. It’s just the way you perceive the reality. That’s why I love this movie so much, because when I watched it later I saw something else in it. My record is about finding those miracles and magic in ordinary things.

Sailor Moon
Photo courtesy of Everett Collection

I have two tattoos and one of them is the moon and the second one is the stars. Very cheesy, but I love the moon, and it’s very connected to Sailor Moon. I mean, Sailor Moon is my inspiration for life. Usually people fall in love with some boy band and put their posters on the walls, but I was a completely nerdy Sailor Moon fan. It jumped straight to my heart.

In the USA they censored a lot [of the series], but in Russia they didn’t do anything with the anime, so we had all the [queer] couples and different genders. I remember the first time I saw the Starlights, characters who look like women but were actually men, I was like, OK, that’s fine. When you’re a kid, you accept the way it is. I’m so happy that it shaped me as a person and planted this seed in my heart that everything is okay. The main thought of the whole cartoon is love is everything.

“Lady Perfection” from Mary Poppins, Goodbye, aka the Russian Mary Poppins

Russian Mary Poppins is amazing. The way she looks, the way she sings, the way she moves—she’s a goddess. When I was a kid, I was like, Wow, I want to be like her. The funniest thing is this was filmed in the ’70s and they were imitating England. It has this completely artificially built street somewhere in Moscow, probably. I like that you can tell that it’s not real—but it’s real because you can see it. It’s all about being a kid: Everything is real as soon as soon as you believe in it. I’m trying to stick to this approach.

Pop singer Yumi Matsutoya performing “Saturday Night Zombies” on Japanese TV

I like that this is a talk show that turns into a live performance that’s all about goofiness. The chill atmosphere of Japanese pop music is just “do whatever you want.” Even if it looks very stupid and ridiculous, it’s fine. It’s so naturally cool and funny, and it’s very childish, but at the same time, the music is so beautiful. It’s like Halloween but onstage. I just love the vibe. You can be this crazy character, but you can still tell that this is a person. I would love to do this kind of live performance at some point.

Soviet children’s film The Adventures of Buratino

Buratino is a Russian version of Pinocchio. My favorite character is Malvina, who has blue hair and an unreachable level of coolness. She was so trendy and bright. My character from the video for “Marafon 15” is inspired by that beautiful girl from my childhood. I always wanted to look as magical as she looks. She’s a puppet who plays in this theater under a master of puppets, and Buratino saves her from this villain. In the end, they happily dance together and create their own theater with their own rules. It’s a very good story, actually.

Conversing With Cage by Richard Kostelanetz
Composer John Cage; photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images

I think John Cage is the greatest musician. He’s like a scientist. His approach to music and life in general is more like scientific research, and I’m trying to do the same. He was so open-minded and kindhearted and you can definitely tell by reading this book. It’s a compilation of his interviews from different time periods of his life. I’ve been reading this book for almost two years because I’m really scared of finishing it and not knowing what to do next. The book isn’t all about music. It’s about the way you perceive reality, the way you think about everything that surrounds you, starting with sounds and silence. He talks about how to deal with unexpected things in your life and in music, and the way you perceive and accept that randomness.

A bicycle named Steve Reich

My best friends are music and my bicycle. I’m the happiest person when I make music and when I cycle. In Moscow, there are lots of places next to the river where there are no stop signs and you can just cycle without being a danger to anyone. I got the bicycle from St. Petersburg for insanely cheap, 4,000 rubles [$57.50]. It’s very simple, has one speed, and feels like it’s almost falling apart. When people see me riding it in the streets they give me so many compliments, which is not a thing in Russia.

Once when I was cleaning the bicycle, I saw it had a small sign that said “Reich.” So I thought it’d be funny to name him Steve Reich. Everybody likes Steve Reich.