– A conversation with Cat Princess

Lead by the charismatic frontman Nils Krång, Cat Princess is one of the most thrilling new bands to have emerged from the Stockholm indie scene this year. Coinciding with the release of their debut EP (entitled ”Please Me”), we met up with him for a photo shoot, a chat about creativity, and, frankly, just to get a glimpse into his fascinating mind.

”To me it’s about being able to express emotions that are received by the senses,” he says thoughtfully. “You create something that others can perceive. It’s not enough to have a thought; surely one can think in a complex way, but to me it has to turn into something concrete in order for it to be regarded as creativity.”

What do you think drives creativity?

– I feel great when I get to do something that has to do with music, art… or food! Something that is consumed by the senses and evokes emotions. Whether it creates thoughts is secondary. If it creates thoughts but not emotions, I have failed with what I wanted to accomplish.
– The best thing about creativity is that it’s a way to communicate. Maybe I can make you feel the same way as me through something I’ve done creatively, rather than if I’d just told it to you. The spoken language is not as colourful as the creative language. You don’t always need to talk about it; the impression is more than what can be conveyed in words.

What are the limitations in the creative process when you’re a part of a group, and what needs to click in order for it to work out?

– You need to be open to changes and that things might not turn out exactly as you had planned. The group is something larger than you, so you need to give the others as much space as you’d like to take. And you need to have the mind-set that the result will emerge by itself without you trying to manipulate it too much.

How important is spontaneity?

– There are some frameworks that are difficult to step outside. For instance, it might be difficult to change the song’s structure when you play it live. But it’s nice when it feels as if the song has a life of its own. If something happens, it happens, don’t try to correct it. It’s difficult to put words on it, but I feel that it’s important for us to let the music out and be free. It must live its own life.

What emotions do you think your music conveys?

– I think it’s funny when there are a lot of things happening within the same song. That there are different parts, that the tempo is changing, that you never feel safe. Thus, there might be a multitude of emotions conveyed in the same song.

– It’s like meeting someone for the first time in a long time. It can ignite several different emotions, and these are complexly woven into each other. At the best, that’s what I want our songs to be like. Maybe it’s sadness, excitement and anger at the same time. I like it when there are multiple layers. It would be fun to explore how many emotions you can convey in one song. My favourite records are probably those when you’re thrown around all over the place.

How do you think music, fashion and art merge into one another?

They complement each other. It could be fun to create a dissonance between the feelings of a song, and how it’s presented visually. If you strive for a particular artistic expression, I think it’s necessary to take into account all that’s around it; the music and the clothes effect how the art is perceived. If you wear the wrong clothes and it’s the wrong music in the background, the idea you had in the beginning could be destroyed.

Credits:

Words by Jonatan Södergren

Photo by Nora Cederin

Make-up by Alejandra Cerda