Kat Kikta On the Making Of “Cherry trees”
Credit: Photo by Tom Cheshire
What was the creative process like for this particular single?
I grew up in Slovakia, about 200km from the Ukrainian border. Even though I've lived more than half of my life here in the UK, this war has really affected me. Also - I have many Ukrainian as well as Russian friends, many of whom have had their lives changed due to the war...
And also I have been thinking about the current state of affairs on our planet Earth and thought - there have always been some wars and unrests - aren't we humans better than this...? “Cherry Trees” basically ended up being what I had to say on the whole thing. The original lyrics and structure came together very quickly, as I had many journal and diary entries in regards to that topic... so I drew from that a lot.
I wanted a positive and inspiring piece of music rather than a depressing news-report type of a song. I wanted to create something uplifting.I kept questioning whether to release this song or not, as it doesn't fit into standard musical genres easily, it is political, and it isn't an easy listening song... and then one night, as I was meditating and listening to my favourite meditation playlist on Soundcloud (where I had a demo of this song), and when my playlist finished, “Cherry Trees” started playing. And in that moment I knew exactly what was missing in the song - sound healing instruments. I already had this big shamanic drum, vocal harmonies and binaural beats in the song, but in that moment I heard the music (which wasn’t in the song yet) so clearly! I knew I needed to record more sound healing instruments - I have a growing selection of them at home, so I recorded singing bowls, gongs, Koshi wind chimes and extra vocal harmonies to make it into a much more soothing piece. That's what made it complete for me. That was a moment when I decided that “Cherry Trees” is worth releasing. Making it helped me deal with what has been going on in the world, so I wish it may help and uplift other people too.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for “Cherry trees?”
I had recorded a guided meditation to empower people who were concerned about Ukraine. I felt that the meditative soundscape had more potential - I loved listening to it cause I found it so soothing, so I decided to make it into a song - I generally audition different ideas and see what 'sticks', but this piece has always had an ambient sound healing core. The positive uplifting lyrics came quickly and I got set on its structure very early on in the process. Though originally I didn't plan to have as much spoken word in the song, but when I was trying different options and melodies - I felt the spoken word had a much stronger emotional impact, so I kept it spoken rather than sung.
What was your favourite moment in making the music video?
This video (and a few others we filmed on location in Slovakia) came together so smoothly! My sister took me to her friend who was going to tailor my dress for me. So as we got to their house, my sister told me - go and have a look around the house - so I did that, sent a few photos of the living room and the kitchen to my music video DOP/collaborator Tom Cheshire and his first question was - Where is it? And can we film there? My sister's friend was delighted and said 'do whatever you please!' So Tom jumped on the next plane to Poprad-Tatry and a week later we filmed in their house. But not only that - while we were in Slovakia - people seemed to have been coming out of the woodwork just to help us film - it was incredible. The lady whose house we filmed in is a seamstress/tailor - I asked her where I could hire traditional Slovakian costumes from, and she said to me: 'give me a minute'... and three minutes later she came back from her attic with a bag full of traditional Slovakian costumes... aaahhhh more stories to tell when we'll talk about my other songs ;-) but yes - making this album could easily be turned into a movie...
How would you describe your musical style or genre?
My musical style is a blend of ambient, electro-acoustic avant pop. Some songs I have are leaning closer towards pop, some are more experimental, and some more ambient. I am strongly inspired by sound healing, and I aim to use natural sounds and sound healing instruments, as I find them so beautiful, soothing, and positively transformational. My vocal mentor David Laudat while I studied at Tileyard described me as a Bjork's and Enya's love child - I liked that.
How do you balance crafting relatable stories with maintaining your unique voice as a songwriter?
I only talk about topics I've lived through, experienced on my own skin; or I reflect on things/topics/life situations which affect me.I don't really think about creating relatable stories. I just write. Often. I have always been writing since I was very little. Some things I write and reflect on are worthy to be in a song, and some aren’t - it's simple as that.
However, once a song is written, my rule is - never let the truth be in the way of a good story... so I sometimes bring some fiction and make things up to make the lyric writing more potent. I hope that topics which have touched my life will also resonate with others…
