Seattle Musician Mirabai Kukathas on MoPOP, Totem Star, and Singing to the Monster Under Her Bed – Slog

Kukathas is on a roll. Courtesy Ra Ra Insurgent

Seattle-based musician Mirabai Kukathas is having a breakthrough second. The 19-year-old’s candy, theatrical people landed her a prime spot in Sound Off! 2020, MoPOP’s annual 21-and-under showcase of Pacific Northwest musicians. Constructing off that look, she lately launched her debut album, Songs to the Monster Under My Bed.

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The 11-track album is a set of songs Kukathas wrote between the ages of 15 and 18 about her relationship with worry. “I grew up coping with bodily ache and infrequently debilitating ranges of tension. I felt scared virtually on a regular basis,” she writes in her album description. “The one approach I used to be capable of self-soothe was by telling tales and writing songs. 13 years later and this album is as soon as once more me trying to self-soothe.”

Songs to the Monster Under My Bed by Mirabai Kukathas

The native riot grrrl zine Ra Ra Rebel interviewed Kukathas for its fifth problem, themed round flowers and energy. The zine is run by Tali Ashkenazy, Sofia Krutikova, and Kennady Quille, who say they selected Kukathas to be the problem’s highlight artist “as a result of nobody embodies flower energy as wholeheartedly as them.” (Kukathas makes use of she and so they pronouns interchangeably.)

Ashkenazy, Krutikova, and Quille chatted with Kukathas about their id, songwriting, and their relationship with music organizations throughout the town. Learn the interview after the soar.

We pruned this interview for readability and size. Take heed to the complete interview here.

Ra Ra Insurgent: We’re so glad to have you ever right here for this interview! What’s one thing new you discovered about your self whereas creating this album?
Mirabai Kukathas: Ahhh! Wonderful query. I believe earlier than, I sort of assumed that making artwork is inherently therapeutic and inherently energizing and writing about your trauma fixes the trauma, nevertheless I sort of discovered that whenever you spend on a regular basis workshopping a tune about how unhappy you’re, it might probably generally make you a little bit extra unhappy.

I used to be reminded of how emotionally grueling creating artwork will be and the way weak it’s. It’s important to be weak with your self, then with all of the individuals you select to collaborate with, you then put it out and the whole world basically sees your diary of feelings and unhappiness and all of the tough, crappy issues that occurred to you. I felt actually honored to have the ability to present my soul to individuals, however I don’t suppose I accounted for the way exhausting it’s to be weak.

I like that. What function does your group play in creating your creative imaginative and prescient?
All of it. I’m a really extroverted and community-oriented individual. I like my mates and I like my household and I totally acknowledge that I wouldn’t have the ability to do something with out them. Earlier than I began making music with different individuals, my music stayed in my pocket book, in my head, and in my voice memos. It’s different individuals and their expertise and their kindness that enables me to take my concepts and switch them into one thing.

I’ve quite a lot of bodily sicknesses and I’ve fairly intense OCD and anxiousness. I used to be a sick child and my mother was the one that dropped every part to handle me. I believe I had a extremely tough go of issues and I survived it as a result of I had a extremely sturdy group of people that love me so much. These issues haven’t gone away, and so I nonetheless depend on individuals so much and I believe as a rule I lean on individuals and so they catch me.

I really feel like my music is a love letter to individuals who love me and that is kinda unhappy—it’s all for them! I like them a lot! I wouldn’t have the ability to make something with out these individuals.

Web page 18 from the latest problem of Ra Ra Insurgent.

Might you inform us about your involvement within the native nonprofit Totem Star?
I first obtained concerned after I was 14 and a flyer for his or her summer time camp fairly actually obtained thrown in my face. I used to be so nervous to enter the Totem Star constructing and after I did, I simply poked my head into the door, regarded on the studio and ran out. I spent the remainder of the day within the parking zone with my buddy till she took me house. We really ended up writing a tune within the parking zone, which was the primary tune on the album, “Grime”.

Pak, the chief director of Totem Star, mentioned, “When you step foot within the studio, you’re a part of the household.” However I used to be like, “Okay, I stepped foot in there, now I am a part of the household, let me goooo.”

I obtained into the summer time camp after which utilized for an internship. I interned there for 2 years, after which I labored there because the junior studio supervisor. I wrote articles for the web site, wrote Thank Yous to donors, coordinated the mixtapes, hosted the entire exhibits, the fundraisers, and arranged occasions.

What was it like taking part in MoPOP’S Sound Off! final yr and making it to the finals?
In basic Mirabai vogue, somebody despatched me the hyperlink to use, and I mentioned no. I’m not going to get into that. After which my buddy made me a silly wager, she was like, “It’s important to do it and if you happen to make it to the semi-finals, it’s a must to get a tattoo.” And I, having no religion in myself was like, “I’ll get no matter tattoo you need me to get if I make it to the finals.” Fortunately the finals have been canceled. COVID-19.

I obtained a name from Robert Rutherford and virtually hung up on him as a result of I couldn’t consider I obtained into Sound Off! I used to be so excited and obtained to assemble a band filled with my mates from Totem Star. It was simply very nice, and through orientation, I met all these actually cool individuals at Sound Off! and I assumed, oh the individuals listed here are cool proficient musicians and I am simply me. They’re all these tall, long-haired jazz individuals, you recognize the kind. After which they have been all of the nicest, sweetest individuals I’ve ever met. My head was like, they’re gonna beat me up within the parking zone [laughs.. But it was really cool, we had a little party with all the Sound Off! kids where I got to know them, and I realized, oh. These are a bunch of teenage dorks, I don’t know why I was so afraid of them.

How do you feel your identity ties into your performance style?
I am queer! I am actually working on an EP of love songs and I feel it is very queer, very nice, and I like it a lot. I don’t write a lot of love songs. “Bellyache,” which is my first single, is an explicitly queer song, that was nerve-wracking for me to put out because I’ve never told all my family. People who knew I was queer were like, “Ah, it’s a queer song,” so it wasn’t that big of a deal… but this next EP is much more explicitly like, this is a love song about a boy, this is a love song about a girl.

My song “Dinner with the Devil” is about my identity as a mixed-race person and the instances in which I do experience privilege and those where I don’t experience privilege. Sometimes there is this understanding that if you want to thrive you have to throw people who are like you under the bus. It is also about my queerness and racial identity and my family. There is also a rocking bassline in there and it is a song that makes me really happy.

Are there any artists you want to spotlight? Any friends?
If people don’t know who Cody Choi of Supercoze is, they are missing out! They released a new single “Happy Mind” that is fantastic. Once again, Greenhorn Riot, Skid Mark, those are all of my pals. Matt Sablan, aka Sabyu, is an incredible singer-songwriter with an island vibe but also made a hip hop record recently. Honestly if y’all have any songs you have been rocking since your childhood and you are an adult now, go listen to them.

You’ll be able to stream and help Seattle native artist Mirabai Kukathas’ newest album Songs to the Monster Underneath my Mattress on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms. You’ll be able to seize a duplicate of the Ra Ra Insurgent zine by means of our Instagram @RiotGrrrlRecords or Etsy store.

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