Meet Kalbells

Popping off since early 2017 Kabells is the ever-growing always amazing project of Kalmia Traver. What started as a solo project is now a full-fledged ensemble of terrific people. Their special brand of hypnotic dazzling pop has continued to grow and develop alongside the project. Their 2020 release “Mothertime” is a great album to get lost in. We had a chance to chat with Kalmia about the project, smells, and reality TV. Check it out.

A self-portrait by Kalbells

Would You Rather

your sense of smell or sense of hearing be a hundred times stronger? Why?

I'd prefer to have my sense of smell be 1000 times stronger. I already have real strong hearing and anymore would be overwhelming. However, I have always wondered what the world would be like if I was using smell as a primary sense (kind of like how I use sight now).

Some Questions with Kalbells

The latest EP release, "Mothertime", is an impressive, cosmic album. How do you feel your sound has evolved since your debut, 2017’s Ten Flowers?

Thank you! That collection of recordings was mad over the course of several years with Jeremy Malvin, aka Chrome Sparks. We actually started it before Ten Flowers, and chipped away at it whenever we had the time between other projects, so I think it is actually a representation of a bridge between Ten Flowers and the new album that's coming out in early 2020! This said bridge contains more outright dance energy, but it's as layered and idea-rich as always. Lyrically it's definitely from the same universe as Ten Flowers, but spiritually I think it is bigger and bolder and unapologetic, and more queenly. Fatter and dancier and more slapping... that's a direction I think I'm always going.

If you could be on any reality TV show, what would it be and why?

I think we should actually definitely make a reality TV show from Kalbells as a group. I think it would be a sweet wholesome bright hilarious antidote to a lot of the chatter that abounds right now. But wait though, seriously aren't we all just in one big reality TV show right now???? I was thinking about how to answer this and how I could just make a reality TV show out of anything I wanted right now by constantly storying and live-ing and live streaming. I grew up without television

What is the best book you’ve most recently read?

The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, and Manual Of Psychomagic by Alejandro Jodorowosky

Did your time with Rubblebucket influence or shape your current work or creative process?

One million percent yes. It has given me so many tools on all levels of the production process for art and entertainment from songwriting to recording, logistics, touring, marketing, performing, singing and dancing, putting together a live show, and it's also strengthened my thinking about the role and responsibility of artists in community, and in societal healing.

What has been your experience with creating and releasing new work during the pandemic?

The part of 2020 where we were at the peak of covid in NYC and the northeast and almost everyone I knew was either deeply quarantining or out there being an essential worker and either way going through much discomfort and fear of the unknown (and in many cases grief and despair too) was a coccoon for the new world being born and I felt like just extremely lucky to be alive and safe, and able to witness as much as I could. I had my grief moments and lots of loneliness since I was quarantining alone, but I had an amazing project to work on: mixing the new Kalbells album! I was learning & teaching myself how to mix and it was hard, but I did it! Releasing Mothertime was definitely a bit of a disappointment since I was excited to tour, and I haven't sold almost a single hard copy of the 250 I bought from the label which feels funny, since I'm so used to my long merch table nights. But it's all such small beans in the long run. We are in a rebirth moment in our world and in our species and that is what I'm here for first and foremost. Lots of partying and lots of Kalbells shows and lots of cassete tape sales will happen, no doubt.

What are the worst things about being a musician in NYC? What are the best things?

Over the 10 years I've lived in NYC my list of complaints has gone down and down and in a post-covid NYC I really have nothing to complain about. I love it here because it feels like a jungle, everything is pushing outwards to live, and rooting downwards, and it's all also crumbling at the same time, and it has this wild uncontrollable essence of mother earth, even through all the stale trash smells. It's a good place to be an artist/musician because it's a rich artistic ecosystem, and there are so many entities here that push us but also foster us. Ideas don't sit around too long, they get put into action. I always want to spread that outwards wherever I go through this life or future ones.

What do you hope listeners take away from this new EP "Mothertime"?

I just hope people listen to it!

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Stay tuned for the next Kalbells installment, lots of flavorful tastes are coming very soon. Thank you for taking interest in the band <3