Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Kazimi
“I never sat down to make a record. I don’t think I would’ve started if I had,” Kazimi proclaims. It’s not your typical statement from an artist on the brink of releasing a record for obvious reasons, but then Kazimi isn’t your typical musician. The queer indie folk musician from New York breathes a certain air of seamlessness into her pillow-propped sound that makes the frank admission seem poetically fitting.
Ethereal is, of course, a word often tossed around in the rather crowded world of American indie folk, but Kazimi claims it boldly in the very production of the airy chords in the cloud-like music. Her new single, ‘Fever Dream’ typifies that. As she said of the new track: “‘This is a song about pleasure and craving.”
Continuing: “About wanting something (someone) so bad that the desire seeps into your every moment, colouring everything you see. That obsession, that need, that want. Bodies seeking bodies.” This sensuality seeps into her sound too. And it is set to permeate the staccato exhales of her forthcoming record as Kazimi gets around to that think she never even set out to do and slip with the sleekness of a penguin’s back into the dreamy world of a poppy indie folk mirage.
So, with all that to come we decided to fire some quick-fire questions at the New York singer-songwriter, because what better way to get to know someone in ten minutes is there? From her favourite lyrics to her belief in ghosts and even her views on the nettlesome subject of AI, this is the quick-fire scoop on your new favourite background bedroom companion.
Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Kazimi:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“Something cathartic full of drumming and feet stomping. Send me off with a bang.”
2. What musician would you love to see live (that you haven’t already) and where?
“Yebba at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.”
3. Have you ever had a weird celebrity encounter?
“I once went through airport security behind Tilda Swinton. She’s magnificent and otherworldly, even at Heathrow.”
4. Do you believe in ghosts?
“My grandmother had a ghost named Herman who followed her around from house to house, so I’ll say yes.”
5. What was the first song you ever learnt to play?
“The first one I remember is ‘Tarantella’ from Bastien Piano Basics, Level 2. I can still play it.”
6. What is your most controversial cultural opinion?
“This feels like a trap.”
7. If you had to get a lyric tattoo, what would it say?
“I wouldn’t! I got a tattoo at 16 and regretted it instantly.”
8. What is the best song you’ve written so far?
“I don’t know about the best but ‘River Run’ will always be precious to me.”
9. What is the most memorable gig you have played so far?
“I spent the last few days playing at the bedside of a dying friend. It wasn’t a gig, but it was profound and will stay with me forever.”
10. Would you ever use AI in your work?
“I’d rather use AI to do something I don’t want to do, not to do the thing I want to do most.”
11. What was the last book you read, and what school grade would you give it?
“Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. I finished it in a day on the beach. A.”
12. What is one weird food quirk you think everyone should try?
“Miso and peanut butter cookies.”
13. What song do you wish you had written?
“The list is long but ‘Loyalty’ by Gabriels is on it.”
14. What is your go-to comfort watching series?
“Anything narrated by David Attenborough feels cosy.”
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“Impossible.”
