Nocturnne – An Xperience Interview

Nocturnne – An Xperience Interview – by Liam Sweeny.

Natalie Kurgan lives the same sort of life that we all do, with the exception that, on some days and in some places, she goes by another name to pursue a vocation that is deeply satisfying. As Nocturnne, Natalie wows audiences with a powerful voice to go with her powerful stories.

RRX: Let’s start with your stage name, Nocturnne. Everybody picks a stage name for a reason, even if that reason has to do with something silly. So where does Nocturnne come from?

Natalie Kurgan: Because I am a classical pianist and I have been all my life. And when I was really coming into music and, kind of falling in love with it, I identified a lot with Chopin and particularly with his “Nocturne.” But if I were to go and just make my name Nocturne with one single N as a normal way of spelling it, you would never find me ever because all you would find is Chopin. So I took the initial for my first name, and I stuck it in there. And so now we have Nocturnne with technically 3 N’s.

RRX: OK, so it comes from Chopin.

NK: Yeah.

RRX: I noticed that when I was looking at your page, there’s a separation between your stage life and your normal life. Is it out of concern for privacy, or do you really feel a separation between your playing and your living? And do you keep some distance between the two? Does it actually help you with your music?

NK: Yeah, definitely. I need that separation. That’s also part of why I have a stage name. Because when I started making music, I knew that I wanted my music to be famous, but I don’t want me, necessarily, as a human being to be famous. I don’t want all the details of my life to be known. So it’s to keep that separation, to keep my private life private. But also, I don’t assume that everyone, my friends and my family, care about my music, and they don’t need to. I don’t care about everything they do either. I’m multifaceted, and so I guess that’s why I keep it separated.

RRX: The risk when you’re Clark Kent and Superman is that somebody’s gonna put it together. Let’s say you get to the point where you’re really, really taking off, and the public kind of blurs them. Have you thought of how you would handle that?

NK: Oh, it’s not like a secret. If you look, if you take a second to look it up, you’ll know who I am. It’s just to make one degree of separation. Just a little bit harder. In general, you never know who’s watching. I just don’t want it, I don’t wanna make it so easy for people to get into my personal life.

RRX: Does it help you with your music itself? Like creating a separate character that’s way more into the music, because that’s the whole purpose of that character? Is it something like that?

NK: I don’t know. I feel like my entire purpose in life at this moment is music. But then the other aspects – all of my personality – come into my music. So I spend a lot of time in nature, hiking outdoors, and that’s pretty obvious if you listen to some of my songs and if you see the pictures. Even the videos are all me in the woods. Definitely, all aspects of my personality come through the music. It’s really not a persona, because I don’t have the energy for that. But … I won’t share what my family is up to on the weekend on my music page.

RRX: You like the woods, you like the forest, and classical music. Whenever you hear classical music played, and there’s some visual to it, like in a video or something, it’s always the forest. It’s always nature and stuff like that. Do you feel that there’s an intrinsic connection between classical music and that kind of environment?

NK: Oh, I never thought of that before. For me, it makes sense. When you listen to classical music, you’re slowing down, you’re taking a breath. And I think we associate that with nature too, just being outside and unplugging. So maybe we correlate them now. I don’t know, that’s interesting.

RRX: So you recently went to Germany.

NK: Yeah.

RRX: Now, were you there as a tourist, or were you playing, or was it something else?

NK: No, I was there for work. I took a few days at the end to be a tourist a little bit, but I’m an engineer full-time, so my parent company is in Germany, and so I had to go over for this program that I’m in.

RRX: Did you get a chance to check out the music in Germany and that world as it is over there?

NK: I would love to do that, but honestly, I don’t have the energy to do both. When I’m there for business, it’s like 18-hour days, and then I sleep, and I wake up, and I do it all over again. And then by the time the weekend comes and I have a couple days, it takes everything in me just to drag my carcass out of bed and go explore the town. So I try to, once I finally am not working, I try to just unplug and see the area. I consider music as work too. It’s just not, you know, my full-time job yet. So I try to unplug from all work and experience the place I’m in. But someday I hope to be there on a tour.

RRX: Right. No 18-hour days.

NK: Oh my God, no.

RRX: I can’t imagine 18-hour days. That’s crazy. OK, I have another question. I couldn’t believe your voice when I first heard it. Clear, perfect pitch, and that didn’t even do it justice. What it is, is really your confidence. You can project and just maintain that clarity in the notes. How did you learn, and what vocally do you work on the most?

NK: This is gonna be a really unsatisfying answer. I don’t know. In 2018 – I’m 34, by the way – so in 2018, 8 years ago, I picked up a guitar for the first time, and I’m like, “I’m gonna learn this thing, and I’m gonna learn how to sing because I’ve never even tried before.” And so I just started, and I learned six songs, and I went to an open mic, and I played my six songs. I feel like I’m still fumbling my way around and just trying out different vocal techniques. I have friends who are just incredible singers. So literally yesterday, I was asking Shannon Tehya, “What do you do when your voice is scratchy from allergies? How are you belting?” Because I really can’t do it when I have allergies. And so that’s how I’m learning.

RRX: There’s gotta be some natural talent, too, because you really have that. So if you really didn’t do much to learn, you must have had it all along.

NK: I think I have a strong background in music from being a classical pianist, so my pitch is really good. I’m sorry, I don’t have a better answer for you.

RRX: Why folk? You sing folk, so why folk? Do you think folk draws a certain temperament, or do you think that the narrative aspect appeals to people? Or is it something else?

NK: Oh, I don’t write. I don’t sit down and try to write in a specific genre for a specific reason. I just write, and that’s what comes out, and I’m always on this journey to figure out what genre I am. Is it indie folk? Is it alt folk? I think it just comes from what inspires me to write, which is generally the world around me, feeling some sort of frustration, or feeling like I have a message that I need to convey. And I think that lends itself well to folk despite its nature … I grew up listening to ‘60s folk, ‘70s folk, a lot with my dad. But then I’m also a ‘90s child, so I really love ‘90s grunge and 2000s rock, like alternative. I’m just a mutt. It all comes together.

 

 

 

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