DJ Final Fantasy: [00:00:00] You are listening to 90.7 fm, uh, K-A-L-X Berkeley. I am DJ Final Fantasy, and I’m here with Molly Nilsson. Thank you so much for taking the time to, uh, to do this little interview.
Molly Nilsson: Thank you.
DJ Final Fantasy: Before you perform, uh, at the Rickshaw Stop, um, how has the tour been going?
Molly Nilsson: It’s been really great. Um. This is sort of towards the end of it. Um, it’s a short tour with just 10 shows.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Um, and quite re relaxed one because it’s only three weeks, but every night has been pretty amazing. I do this little thing where I kind of rate every show with like, stars.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: In the five star system, and like all the shows have been like four or five stars.
DJ Final Fantasy: Oh, that’s great.
Molly Nilsson: Which is really great.
DJ Final Fantasy: How, how long have you been doing that? Do you have a massive journal of of stars?
Molly Nilsson: Uh. I have like, yeah, I have like a, all the, these piles of books.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uh huh.
Molly Nilsson: Um, tour books that I make. Because when you’re on tour, it’s easy to forget like what you were doing even like two days ago.
DJ Final Fantasy: Of course.
Molly Nilsson: You know, you’ll be like, where was I? What, like what was the show? [00:01:00] And so I started just keeping, uh, sort of a, yeah, a journal over, you know, where. Where I am, like, you know, flyers and like, you know, the wristbands and stuff from the show. It’s kinda like a scrapbook.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And then I also like rate the shows and it’s sort of a like, rating my own performance, like how felt, like, how good I felt like I was, but also like things like the, the atmosphere or you know, like, like. I don’t know. They. Yeah. Like how fun it was basically.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And so a five star like night can be like, you know, in someone’s garage and there’s 10 people.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: You know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But, but it could also be like, uh, like a, a huge busy show with, you know, like a luxurious back stage and you know, so… [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: The very rare.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Luxurious backstage with like a hot tub in the corner.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. That’s like where we are right now.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, exactly. This is, here we are at the Rickshaw Stop.
Molly Nilsson: [Laughter]. Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Luxurious backstage.
Molly Nilsson: Fully functioning refrigerator. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Fully functioning refrigerator on a nice [00:02:00] brisk San Francisco day too.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter]. Um, so the new album.
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: Is coming out, uh, October 1st.
Molly Nilsson: October 1st, yes.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: Um, basically, yeah, I couldn’t sort of like get it out sooner. But I really wanted to come over here and, uh, play these shows because I’ve, I’ve had a artist visa the past three years that sort of allows me to come here and like perform.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And I mean, I’m not allowed to do that without, and I’d get in a lot of trouble.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: So the visa is expiring at the end of the month and because I’m going to just boycott the USA for a while, I’m not renewing it. So it was a little bit like a tour to come over and say like, you know, um, so long, good luck, please. Like, you know.
DJ Final Fantasy: Please write.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Like, like, yeah, let’s, uh, don’t make me wait four years, you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But, um, so it’s been sort of melancholic in a way, but also really, [00:03:00] really have, I don’t know, I just feel so like, happy about meeting people and every show I’ve been talking to people afterwards about what’s going on and everyone is sort of, you know, feeling like really excited and angry and some, I mean, it just feels like it’s a really strange time, but it’s also the time when you need music the most in shows, and I feel like people are really hungry for something positive and new. And, I don’t know. I have a really good feeling about things after having done these shows, and I think before I came over here I was kind of like, oh my God, what’s gonna happen over there? You know? But now I’m like, people are good, you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Like.
DJ Final Fantasy: You, you had spent like a pretty extended amount of time here during the recording of Un-American Activities, correct?
Molly Nilsson: Well, it was just four months.
DJ Final Fantasy: That’s, that…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Seems like, you know, that’s a long time. That’s a long time to be in this country.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, that is, that is true, I guess. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: But, uh, uh, how has your experience, sort of like, well, [00:04:00] tell us, tell us a little bit about that, that residency.
Molly Nilsson: Well, it was a residency that’s, um, that’s organized by, or funded by the sort of the German culture whatever.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And, uh, I mean, I had applied for it a million times because it’s so rare that you as a pop musician can stay somewhere and sort of get like, funding to record something and just like, be inspired, you know? Or for me that’s just like not, uh, a possibility.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: So I was so excited to do it. And I had this album in mind then that I wanted to do, which would be about, um, about the blacklisting and about the McCarthyism and, and that period because the, the writer whose house the residency takes place, um, was uh, you know, a communist who came over to you, who fled the Nazis, came over here, but then also not necessarily like blacklisted because he was not like a playwright or a, uh, you know, he was not. I [00:05:00] think he wasn’t like, dangerous enough for, for the American, uh, you know, government.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: But he was still never granted, um, like a citizenship and could never leave the country before he died. Um, so…
DJ Final Fantasy: Do, do you remember the, the name of, of…
Molly Nilsson: Lion Feuchtwanger is his name.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: And, um, and he was very good friends with, uh, Bertolt Brecht and, uh, they were yeah, companions and, um, anyway, so, um, I was very excited to, to come over and do like a theme album about that because it was sort of a challenge. I mean, it’s like you’re, I’ve never tried to write an album about something that isn’t just like, whatever I’m thinking about myself, you know? And it was quite, it was quite challenging to, to find like. Find like an entry point or something. But when I, I landed on like calling the album Un-American Activities, it was so inspiring to me to think that everything I was doing was a [00:06:00] part of like an activity as if like I was like creating my own movement or being part of a movement.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And I mean, now, ironically, like a year and a half later, I feel like that topic is like more, you know, present than ever.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. The, it’s the era of like new McCarthyism.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly. And so, um, it feels strange. I mean, because it doesn’t, I don’t know, it’s like when you’ve been, you spend a lot of time thinking about something and then suddenly you realize that, um, it’s so much more than, ah. It’s so much more than you could ever like write an album about, and I kind of, I kind of felt like I, I’ve like, thought so much about it last year that it makes me sad that I, that I’m still thinking about it or something, and that now I see like, oh my God, I guess like, the fact that, you know, I’m now, now leaving this country and not coming back for four years is like a part of that that, this [00:07:00] history. And I felt like last year that I felt a lot less scared for the future of this country.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: In a way.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But, uh, now I feel like, um, yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: I feel like there’s a lot of us here who, who not only share the same, like lowered confidence in, in.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Our country and, and the direction.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: But I feel like there’s also like this weird impulse within like the kind of, I’ll call it like the progressive community, you know?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: I mean. You know, this is radio in Berkeley. I should just call it mainstream, but…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, but uh, uh, sort of amongst like, you know, communist, democratic socialists and all the rest of that who have like a certain amount of almost gratification in saying like, we’ve been ringing this bell.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Forever.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And now we see it happening.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And, and, um. Yeah. It’s, it’s a surreal experience.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: To say like, yeah, we’ve been talking about this for so long.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And also, what do we do now? ’cause it, it’s here.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. And I guess like talking about things, doesn’t [00:08:00] like, do anything.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: I mean, I think that’s also like, like talking about things is like, um, it makes me feel like, um, the most important thing that I notice, like with myself is that. Like talking about something or reading about something doesn’t actually like do that much. But if I go out and I’m like at like, like some kind of meeting or event and I meet other people and I talk to them face to face, it does so much more than like just sitting like, I don’t know, at a bar or something. You know what I mean?
DJ Final Fantasy: Hmm. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And I feel like that’s something that gives me like a sense of purpose also when I play shows, because I feel like playing shows is like, not for me, like to be, you know, it’s, it’s more, more that I feel like it’s like a service that I’m like getting other people together out there and hopefully like at the show or after the show or something, they start talking.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: I don’t know. It’s like…
DJ Final Fantasy: You’re, you’re like promoting that level of discourse.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know. And to offering like a place to, to sort of revel in it a little [00:09:00] bit.
Molly Nilsson: And to… Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Um. And so, I mean, in, in a way, I feel like this tour has felt like the most sort of important tour I’ve made here.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: Because it felt, it felt so, like for myself important.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: But also, yeah, like I feel like I’m learning a lot about things and yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Well.
Molly Nilsson: I don’t know what the question was. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: You’re welcome. I dunno, either. [Laughter]. America says, “You are welcome, Molly.”
Molly Nilsson: Thank you.
DJ Final Fantasy: Let’s talk a little bit about the new album, and I know I kind of want to of start with maybe the obvious question, but this is your 12th record.
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: You’ve toured across the globe, you’ve done residencies. You, you, is this, this is your day job?
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: Is that correct?
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: Like this is what you do for a living?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Do you feel like an amateur?
Molly Nilsson: Um, well, the, the reason I, I would like to call myself an amateur is because I had this sort of [00:10:00] revelation earlier this year where I thought that it’s kind of funny that I’ve been doing this for like 20 years.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And like. I’m like, no better at it.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: Like I, I mean, I, my friend was like, “Oh, Molly, you know how to play piano?” And I was like, “No, I don’t.”
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: Like I can write Molly Nilsson songs, but I’ve been, and I mean, I sit down and I play that like keyboard thing.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: You know. Uh, for hours, but I still don’t know how to play piano.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And I was like, wow. I was like, impressed. I was like, how have I resisted to learn something for so long?
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: So I was, I mean, that was just like a, like I was just laughing at that.
DJ Final Fantasy: Hmm.
Molly Nilsson: But I think for me, I mean, the amateur thing is that even though I. Like this is, I guess, my day job. I don’t think of it as like a job and I’m not doing it for it to be my job.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: But then on the other hand, I like don’t really have time to do other jobs.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And I also, I guess it would be silly to, to like steal someone else’s job opportunities when there’s very few out there.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh. [00:11:00]
Molly Nilsson: Um, but I think, I guess, um, the amateurism for me is more about doing something for the love of it.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And. I, I mean, I would be doing this, um, if no one wanted to listen to my songs as well.
DJ Final Fantasy: Hmm.
Molly Nilsson: But it’s also this culture of amateurism, which is like not, it’s like a protest against like professionalism, but also like elita- elitism.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And about against capitalism where maybe you’re also doing things that are like, I don’t know, like. Like skateboard culture or zines. Or graffiti.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Like things that are sort of on the, like sometimes in someplace also like illegal and or postering and I don’t know. So it’s more this, I wanted to make it like an album that sort of just celebrates that culture.
DJ Final Fantasy: Hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Because it’s like where I feel like I come from, even though I’ve been doing this for 20 years now. And so I don’t know, it’s maybe, um. [00:12:00] I mean.
DJ Final Fantasy: There’s, there’s kind of an irony in it, and you begin to.
Molly Nilsson: Well, yeah, and I, I think also, of course, like if I had just started making music and this was my first album, I wouldn’t call it amateur.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: You know, I think maybe you need.
DJ Final Fantasy: You would call it professional. [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Expert.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: I mean, I guess like, maybe like, you have to have like the confidence from 12 albums to say I’m still an amateur.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: So in a sense, that’s…
DJ Final Fantasy: What is, is, that’s like the uh, uh. What is it? The Dunning-Kruger, you know, like when you first learn something.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You feel like you’re an expert.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: But then as you learn more, you, you, you.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You realize, you know, very little.
Molly Nilsson: Precisely.
DJ Final Fantasy: I, I think that’s really interesting. I think that’s something that is maybe common in like the growth of an artist is you come out with this kind of confidence.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: In this like, you know, bold feeling. But as you do more and more…
Molly Nilsson: But art, art is also, like one of the few things that you really like, feel like people get worse and worse at, you know, like there’s so many artists that like, you know, maybe they started out really great and then being like corrupted by like [00:13:00] maybe, you know, money or business or industry or even like people around them saying, you’re so great.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Turns them into like pretty bad artists, you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. I I even sort of the reliance on it.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: As a trade.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Like once it becomes sort of there.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: It’s like you just are shoveling out.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly. You’re just like painting your blue painting every morning.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Although if somebody painted a blue painting every morning, I feel like I would wanna see that. [Laughter.]
Molly Nilsson: Exactly. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: You’re like, all right, let’s get a few years down the line.
Molly Nilsson: I mean, yeah. Like, um, um.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: When you put it that way. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uh, what, what was like the process of recording it? It’s funny that you say that you don’t feel like you’ve gotten any better at it, because I do feel like there is sort of an evolution of your sound.
Molly Nilsson: Hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, and, and like. You know, it’s, it’s not, I, you know, I don’t, I don’t like thinking of like, art or music as like better or worse or anything like that.
Molly Nilsson: No. Of course.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. But, but like, it’s interesting to hear, you know, in, in kind of preparing for the, for this interview, I like went [00:14:00] back, listened to, you know, your first record, your second record, and I’m like, wow, this sounds like you’re singing over like a Casio.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And then you listen to like. You know, Excalibur.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: …On Un-American Activities and it’s really lush.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: It’s really playful, you know, and…
Molly Nilsson: I think like the main thing, like my setup of recording has remained exactly the same.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Um, except for I would say my first four albums. Um, I have to think, I think maybe my first four albums, I would record everything through the microphone.
DJ Final Fantasy: Hmm. Oh wow.
Molly Nilsson: Like the instruments as well.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: And, at some point I had a flatmate who was this like driven crazy and was like, Molly, can you just plug that keyboard in?
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: ‘Cause I don’t want to hear that.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: …Melody over and over. Or that chord progression.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You know, for like 10 minutes.
DJ Final Fantasy: The piano that you can’t play. [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: You know. Because exactly. Because I would be like playing it and recording it real time through the microphone and then overdubbing.
DJ Final Fantasy: Um.
Molly Nilsson: So he was like, you can just plug in the [00:15:00] keyboard, in the computer. And I was like, really? And that just like changed it a lot for me. So now I do that.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter] Um.
Molly Nilsson: I plug it into, but I still use the built in microphone when I record my vocals.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: Like, I don’t record with a microphone.
DJ Final Fantasy: Oh, really?
Molly Nilsson: I never have. I don’t know. I, I just don’t even know how to.
DJ Final Fantasy: Not even a gold microphone?
Molly Nilsson: No, I mean, this is for karaoke and interviews, you know, special occasions. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, so, yeah. So then. You’re just recording? Like what sort of, what keyboard are you using?
Molly Nilsson: Well, it’s always a different one. I mean, I usually have one keyboard per album.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: And like to make one album, I usually record about 40 songs.
DJ Final Fantasy: Wow!
Molly Nilsson: And then I pick out the, I mean, yeah, but some of them are really bad, you know, so don’t say, “Wow!” [Laughter]. It’s like, I mean.
DJ Final Fantasy: I mean, it takes me months to write a bad song. So.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. But I mean, I think it’s like, uh, you just sit there and you just try and try and try and within the evolution of that, you know, you [00:16:00] develop something that you get interested in that moment or like in that period. And then eventually, usually what comes out is like an album of, I don’t know. 10 something songs.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And at that point I’m usually so sick of that keyboard.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: That I just can’t hear any of it anymore. But the, my favorite type of keyboards are usually like, I mean, I have been, I don’t wanna like be like selling keyboards here.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: I’ve, I’ve used, I used a lot of Yamaha.
DJ Final Fantasy: Okay.
Molly Nilsson: I, I think a lot of Yamaha keyboards are really amazing.
But I’ve also had like, um, I’ve used like a Roland.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Or Technics. And it’s often that I just stumble upon a keyboard that’s like from a friend.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Or I see it, uh, at a flea market, or I hear it somewhere and I’m like, that’s a cool one. And, uh, so it’s not like the that the, the keyword themselves are so interesting.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: It’s more that like, you know, you can just be like, oh, there’s like [00:17:00] this cool thing with the sound. And usually they have a little bit of like, um, like a little bit of a tone or like, sometimes they have like, almost like ghost notes in there.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: With that can happen when they just sort of blow up a bit. I don’t know.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: So it’s a lot about textures.
DJ Final Fantasy: I feel like pianos are kind of this a similar way.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, where it’s, they have their own character.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: And sometimes you sit in front of one and…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: It’s like, wow!
Molly Nilsson: And I’ve never, I’ve never been able to do anything with like a MIDI keyboard, like I don’t think or like stuff in a computer.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: Like, I just don’t like the way it sounds. I think I really like sound that has like gone through.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm.
Molly Nilsson: Like real space, and I feel like I have a little bit of an, like an aversion to like completely like clean sound.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Um, so that’s like the only thing I, I can’t really do myself.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Which be, would be easier if I could, but.
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter]. Well, so, so the, [00:18:00] the sound part of it is, is kind of, it sounds like it’s a little bit shaped by circumstance almost.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, just.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Fatalistic with that stuff. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What about sort of the, the lyrical content like you, the timeliness of your albums? I feel like kind of gets them, gives them sort of a unified.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Element.
Molly Nilsson: I feel like sometimes it’s a bit creepier that I, I mean, I do, I mean, I think I do write a lot about, you know, thing, current issues, you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Things that are happening in the, you know, in, in that specific moment in like the world and politics or society. Um, often like sort of, you know, with myself in there, like, because it’s my way of processing those things happening.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But sometimes it can be almost a bit like. Sometimes it feels like as if I’m like putting a spell on something or like as if I’m, I dunno. Sometimes it feels a bit like, [00:19:00] uh, funny because it’s just my, you know, subjective experience. And then it’s a bit funny when I put out an album called 2020 and then there’s like this huge pandemic that happens and people are like, that year sucked. And I was like, I thought it was gonna be great.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: I’m so sorry. You know?
DJ Final Fantasy: [Laughter]. Yeah. You know, there’s some level of like, vulnerability in, I mean, in the music that you put out. And it feels like the process too. It feels like these are sort of private writings that you are like, “Oh, okay, well I’m gonna make a song out of this one.”
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, how do you, is that just the kind of person you are where you’re sort of like comfortable being vulnerable or like an open book and like, you know, how, how, uh. How hard is it to go up and like sing these things?
Molly Nilsson: I don’t know. It’s kind of strange because I, ever since I started writing songs, which is like a long time ago now.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: I never felt very insecure about the songs or showing them to people.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Or like how that they were in some [00:20:00] way very personal.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: I felt very like separated from that and so, which was really great. I can see now in hindsight that I probably wouldn’t have done it if I had been more, you know.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Insecure about it. But I never had like, any doubts about like, you know, playing someone a song that’s like, probably quite like a bit embarrassing or something.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uhhuh.
Molly Nilsson: Um, ’cause I, I don’t know, I always felt like very like, natural about that part. But I think I would be much more, um, much more like sort of insecure about, I don’t know, if I was like writing a text, then I feel very vulnerable.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Like, because something about music just feels like. Um, I can, I can be myself in there and I’ve already created the whole setting for it, so.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: I don’t have to be like vulnerable. It has its own shield or something. But sometimes with the text, I feel like I can be very insecure about how is this interpreted or how do people read this or [00:21:00] see me or you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, I guess. I guess one of them is like a little bit more, it’s strange to think of text as like one dimensional.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Because there’s so much that can be expressed through it.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: But it’s a little bit more of a like straightforward statement and…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Music is, you know.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: This kind of flourishing character.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And sometimes like a a, a poise to it.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, where it’s already, you’re posing in this certain, this certain, uh, mask, you know?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, precisely. I mean, I think maybe, yeah, maybe that’s it. But I also, I don’t know, I know people who are very like, um, insecure about their work and I think maybe, um, maybe it’s just like, uh. Starting when you’re, I mean, I wasn’t like so young when I started, but like I was in my early twenties.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm.
Molly Nilsson: And maybe at that point I was a little bit like naive. It was also like sort of pre-internet. So it was never like this feeling of like, oh, if you put out some music, it’s gonna be out there forever.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You’re just kind of like, I made a [00:22:00] CD.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Check this out guys.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Um, so it was maybe the timing of when I started and, and then it just, uh. It kept going, so.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. So it’s just is just a voice that you feel very comfortable in.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: I, the reason I kind of bring it up in this way is because I, I feel like your music has a, uh, um, earnesty is like, not quite the right word, but it has this sort of casual thought element.
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: That feels, it’s like freeing to listen to a little bit.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You, you hear it and it’s like, this is a conversation that I’m having with someone.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And it’s. You know, it’s, it’s one way through a speaker.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: But it’s like, I can, I can respond.
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, like it kind of, I feel like it inspires dialogue.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Which is, you know, kind of what you were discussing about tour.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. And I think maybe like, that’s also the way I feel with music.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: But I don’t think I have like the exact same thing with like reading for example.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Maybe there’s not, like maybe the dialogue with music [00:23:00] is like, um, yeah.
The way we listen to music, it’s, it can be like quite intimate and yeah. You do feel like, um, um, yeah, it’s a really special relationship. Uh, I also feel like, yeah, my favorite music, it’s like when people ask me like, oh, what do you listen to? I’m like, it’s kind of private. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: I was going to ask about influences and now, now that’s off limits. I’m sorry.
Molly Nilsson: I think this is such a hard question because I think when I’m making music, I try not to listen to music.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Because I don’t want to be like.
DJ Final Fantasy: Sort of borrowing.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. I don’t wanna be like, influenced, but also I don’t want to be like comparing myself because…
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Then I would maybe be like, oh, but this sounds so much cooler than me. Or, you know, I wish I could do something like that.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm.
Molly Nilsson: So when I’m working on an album, which is almost all the time, uh, it’s like I, I only listen to my own music and uh.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: So if I’m like walking around the supermarket and I just [00:24:00] like listen to whatever I record that morning and I always hope that no one’s gonna notice.
DJ Final Fantasy: I, uh, I will admit I do the exact same thing.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: It’s embarrassing to admit to, but I feel like it’s actually really… It’s kind of also like, sort of the point of it a little bit.
Molly Nilsson: But it’s the point of it. Definitely.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You write songs or music that you wanna listen to.
DJ Final Fantasy: I feel like, I mean, I feel like, I mean, even beyond that, you, you create the things that you want to exist in this world.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: And, and you know, I feel like part of becoming an artist is, is that sort of a Ouroboros Effect where, where you’re inspired by…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yourself a little bit.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You’re consuming yourself and, and you can kind of…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, uh, um, uh, just evolve from that.
Molly Nilsson: But I also think sometimes when I hear stuff that I just don’t enjoy, and I wonder like, like, I don’t know. I’m like, do you listen to this? Do you, as the person who did, do you ever listen to this? It seems like you’re having fun making it, but do you ever listen to it?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Like, why should I listen to it?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You know what I mean?
DJ Final Fantasy: That’s, that’s interesting.
Molly Nilsson: You know, it’s like [00:25:00] sometimes there’s like these bands and they’re just like, masturbating on stage. I’m like, I’m sure you’re having fun.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But it’s kind of like.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You can cut that out if you want. [Laughter].
DJ Final Fantasy: No, no, no. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s, you know, I, I feel like, I mean, I do feel like there is a value to, to that in a certain sense.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Like the, the artist, you know, who’s just masturbating on stage, you know, in the sense that it is like a little bit freeing and…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Like, yeah, we, you can do this.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You can do this weird thing.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And somebody might find it interesting.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: But, I, I do admit, like it’s a little bit more satisfying when it’s, it’s a bit more of like a, a…
Molly Nilsson: Well, also when you feel like as an audience member, you’re sort of included.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. That’s, that’s a really interesting point.
Molly Nilsson: You know, I think that’s like, I mean that’s, I mean, maybe, yeah, there’s, that’s like the difference between like what, like a good show. I don’t mean like that people have to be like, completely like crowd pleasing.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: It’s like, it’s about like when you feel. As an audience member that either you’re entertained or included. That’s what I think [00:26:00] is a good show.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But, I mean, I, I, when I played this show in, uh, at a festival like really long time ago.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Like when I first started, and, uh, I remember talking to this guy who said that he, he had been dating a girl who was like, like the niece of, of, uh, Lou Reed or something like that.
DJ Final Fantasy: Oh, wow.
Molly Nilsson: And he said that they had, as a joke stolen Lou Reed’s iPod just to see what was on it.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uh-huh. [Laughter].
Molly Nilsson: And it was only Lou Reed on it.
DJ Final Fantasy: Interesting.
Molly Nilsson: And I was like, in my mind I was like, yep, that sounds about right.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And, and I always thought that was like, yeah, like, I guess like you have to like process what you’re working on and like while you’re working on, you have to like go through it. And like for example, also when you’re making an album, I was like, if there’s a song that I keeps skipping, well I probably won’t put it on the album.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: You know, so things like that, you’re kind of like still making the music after it’s been made. You know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Let me ask you this, [00:27:00] you know, you have obviously a pretty large catalog. Is there stuff that you listen to now in it that you’re like, oh, I wish I hadn’t included that. Or like, oh, like, I wish I had included that. Do you listen to the, to the cut tracks?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. I mean, often I have like these folders.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: On my computer with like, stuff that I didn’t put out. I think I, I’ve never had any regrets with what I put on or didn’t put on.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Sometimes there’s been songs that I cut that, but I was like, well, they just don’t fit in.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: On that album. And maybe they’d fit in somewhere else. But, um, I, I feel like sometimes it’s fun to go back and listen to old stuff, but it’s sort of a little bit like voyeuristic or something. ’cause I mean, I, I think like when I put something out, I’m sort of in it for like a year or two and then I kind of like, move on. And, um.
DJ Final Fantasy: Is, is releasing an album kind of a catharsis? Is, or is it there like some element of closure?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, I, and it’s so fun. I love [00:28:00] working on like, an album base.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uh-huh.
Molly Nilsson: Um, like I, I love thinking about like, putting everything together, like…
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: How it starts, how it ends, the artwork and the titles. And for me, I think like, it’s sort of like my way of making, um, a movie or something.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Um, and then once I’ve like put it out, I feel like I’m, yeah. I’m really still enjoying it for a long time. Until eventually I, I feel like, okay, it’s time to start the next.
DJ Final Fantasy: Move on. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You’ve done some of your videos as well, right?
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Do you, is that like, um, an interest you’re pursuing or, or.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. I actually, I, I, I really love the video work and I think before I started making music. I sort of always thought that film would be what I would work with.
DJ Final Fantasy: Uh-huh.
Molly Nilsson: And um, the reason I, I guess I sort of gave up on film was at some point I realized that film involves so much. [00:29:00] Like you kind of need a lot of people to do it.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And I was like, I just wanna do something that I can do entirely by myself.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: It’s fun to work with other people, but I don’t wanna rely on having to work on with other people. And so I kind of just paused the idea of film ever being a thing, but now, I think it like doing so much like music videos for myself, I kind of feel like, well I can also do like a film by myself. I just need to have some time for it, you know?
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: But, uh, film is such a fun and incredible, uh, medium.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: Especially if you already like, make music and you think about timing and you think about like movement. Um, I actually prefer films that don’t have music, but I think you still have the same.
DJ Final Fantasy: So there’s still very much a rhythm.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: And I think, I think also, I mean especially now, the way that, like we were talking about sort of textural sounds and whatnot, that’s sort of a perspective I think shifts.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: So well to, [00:30:00] to…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Film and visuals.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly. I think I’m quite like specific about what I like there.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And it’s not something that you can necessarily like pinpoint exactly what it is, but you just know when you like it and you know when you don’t.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And, um. I think with the i, the same textural thing that I have with music, I, I definitely have with the visuals.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And, uh, it’s fun to sort of yeah, figure out what they are and yeah, I definitely wanna spend some more time on that.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: In the future.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah. Is there any, anything else you’d like to talk about? Kind of, uh, um. Um, anything you’d like to, to mention before we go?
Molly Nilsson: Um, I think I was just seeing a friend earlier today and we had a coffee and, and she asked me like, so what are you like inspired about right now? And I think one thing that I, I was, uh, contemplating on this trip and this tour was also that I’ve, I have been doing what I do for quite a while now and like. [00:31:00] And I feel like I’m, I’m becoming like a, like a veteran in this, like DIY uh.
DJ Final Fantasy: Oh.
Molly Nilsson: You know, world. And, um, and it’s, it’s a kind of inspiring thing to just be like, well, like I’ve been around for a while. I don’t have to like, have any ego about what I do anymore in the sense, because I’m like, even, you know, putting out an album is really fun, but it’s so much about this whole work you already did. And it’s more about being like, I just want like young people also to see the stuff that I was inspired by when I was younger.
DJ Final Fantasy: Mm-hmm.
Molly Nilsson: And to know that like there’s lots of possibilities in different ways of working and doing things.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: And I sometimes feel that younger people who grew up, you know, I don’t know, like people who grew up, um, after like 9/11, they have like a very different, uh, you know, worldview.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: I mean, compared to someone who I grew up with, like the [00:32:00] Berlin Wall. So, um, I think, you know, I want, I want to remind young people also that capitalism isn’t culture and that they shouldn’t like, confuse like a brand with a piece of art, for example.
DJ Final Fantasy: Definitely.
Molly Nilsson: And I think this is very like, fluent now, uh, for obvious reasons, but like from my political standpoint, I think it’s really important that people realize that what’s valuable in this world is what human beings have made and do together. And it’s not what like a corporation wants them to do.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: So things like that, um, is sort of like my, um, what sort of spurs me on and like to go on tour and yeah, talk to people and…
DJ Final Fantasy: I think like the presence of just the DIY underground scene, it, it’s mirrored. And so I just re-watched, um, uh, Paris Is Burning.
Molly Nilsson: Mm-hmm.
DJ Final Fantasy: If you’re familiar.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, and it’s a beautiful film about how this oppressed subculture for, [00:33:00] for lack of a better term, um, creates a different reality in which they can celebrate each other.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: And like, I feel like that’s part of what, you know, what we do here in places like this.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Is create this alternate reality to remind everyone it’s not.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: About this capitalist grind.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, that’s something that perhaps someday we can actually subvert and make a better world that is that.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: You know, that we want to be involved in.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah.
Molly Nilsson: Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, and I think, I think your music really does speak to that, you know, it, it, it creates these beautiful personal things that, that remind, you know, one listener, at least myself, um, how, how beautiful the personal is and how you can live outside of that shell of, of, uh, capitalism. I’ve, you know.
Molly Nilsson: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
DJ Final Fantasy: Um, thank you again so much.
Molly Nilsson: Thank you.
DJ Final Fantasy: For, uh, for taking the time to do this interview and for…
Molly Nilsson: Yeah, Thank you. It was lovely chatting with you.
DJ Final Fantasy: Yeah, it was wonderful.
