Karin Park has won over audiences from the back-woods of Dalarna to London’s hipster districts with raw, emotional songs and dancefloor-friendly electronics. She co-wrote Norway’s popular Eurovision entry in 2013 and lures the lenses when working as a model, but it’s for her confident, compelling stage shows with brother David that she’s best known. We tracked down Karin on tour for a virtual fika.
What do you expect from the audience at Electronic Summer 2015?
I know that the audience at Electronic Summer is really interested in music and loyal towards the bands that they appreciate. So, I look forward to meeting those fans I already have but also to performing for those who have never heard my music.
What can the audience expect from you?
We love to play live and we have fun, so I believe the audience also is going to have it. People are often surprised by our show. One must really come and see for oneself…
You play live a lot abroad. Do these shows differ from when you play on Swedish soil?
All countries differ slightly depending on the culture. But it is also true that it is slightly the same type of people who come to my concerts, so sometimes one becomes amazed at how alike people are, wherever one is coming from. Music brings together people who think alike, in some way.
Who are you looking forward to seeing on stage at this year’s ES?
When one plays at a festival, it is very difficult to pinpoint what one has the desire to see. But I intend to check out as much as is humanly possible. I hope that I have the time to see Me the Tiger. I have seen them before and it was great.
Where do your strongest influences come from?
It changes from record to record, because I listen to so many different ones. Everything from Whitney Houston to Miles Davis to Scott Walker. But The Cure, Depeche Mode and Fad Gadget have probably had a big impact on my sound these last years. And so has Kelis.
If you would make a cover here and now, which doesn’t need to be a synth track, which song by which band would you choose and why?
I listened to ”Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits the other day, and I thought that I should do a cover of this. It is such an awesome song with a very strange text, and I think that I could make a cool version of it.
Which band would you like to see make a cover of one your songs and which song would suit them best?
Wow! What a question. I have never thought about it. I have actually received many cover versions of my songs but never any which I liked especially much. If Tom Waits had done a cover of my song, “Bending Albert’s Law,” then I would have been in Heaven.
Is there anything that you are especially nervous about?
No, I don’t think so.
When is it best to see you on stage?
22:30 is the best. Then I am in my element.
When is it best to listen to your music?
Definitely in the car. I make car music, I think.
How does the future look?
Fortunately, I have no idea. One can of course die tomorrow. But I will build a good studio in the autumn, I have been thinking, so it will be good to nest there a while before we tour again. It will be in part of the USA, too, it seems. It will be exciting.
Do you have new material or tours coming?
I have not done anything but write songs and tour these last ten years, so in the summer shall I actually go to the USA as a keyboardist in the noise-rock band Årabrot for a month. It will be something totally different and it will be like my holiday. My first in nine years. But then I am coming to Electronic Summer and other festivals. Keep track of where I am playing on my Facebook page!
Karin Park’s official Facebook page.