Purple Magazine
— The New York issue #39 S/S 2023

Charlotte Kemp Muhl

ICON OF NEW YORK COOL CHARLOTTE

KEMP MUHL, MODEL, SONGWRITER,

AND MEMBER OF THE BAND UNI AND

THE URCHINS.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICHARD KERN

PURPLE — Do you consider yourself a good musician?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — I can play every instrument badly. Drums, bass, guitar, piano, accordion, etc. I invented my own strange finger technique because I never had a lesson, so when professional musicians see me play, they stare at my hands and get a facial twitch. Mostly I only play my own compositions, which are a cross between Satie and Shostakovich and Daniel Johnston.

PURPLE — What’s your favorite guitar?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — I like the weird, cheap ’60s guitars. The Soviet brand Tonika. Or Teisco. Bakelite Eko. Hagstrom. Wandre.

PURPLE — What’s your relationship with the piano?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — My mother, whom I have a complicated relationship with, used to play classical piano when I was a child. Our piano was completely out of tune, but she never got it tuned. She would drink a lot of wine and play sad, violent pieces, so to this day, I like minor chords and instruments that sound out of tune.

PURPLE — What does music mean to you?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — Music is a form of insanity because you cannot touch or see it, or measure it quantifiably. It’s the most subjective and personal art form, which just takes place in your mind.

PURPLE — What place does it take in your life?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — Lately, I want to give up on music because I realize Warhol was right about art being a business. I want to become a programmer or a hacker instead, since tech is the only flourishing industry. But I love music too much to stop.

PURPLE — How do you connect music and image, and images of yourself?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — The brain has a bias toward synesthesia, so we naturally associate imagery with sounds. Like Jackson Pollock with jazz, and glitter with glam rock. I want to direct films and video games as an extension of a soundtrack. The best directors did this, like Fellini writing entire scenes around Nino Rota’s compositions.

PURPLE — Do you miss New York as it was in 2010? CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — New York is the greatest city in the world, but sadly it has become too corporate. The nightlife is mostly bankers. There are too many Starbucks. I just leave my house less now, and live more in my head and with the dream of Patti Smith’s NYC.

PURPLE — What is the best thing about New York?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL – The best aspect of New York is the melting pot. You’ll see homeless people and billionaires hanging out, punk rockers and preps. And no one is easily impressed or cares about celebrity like they do in LA. And I love being able to walk every where.

PURPLE — Where would you live if you didn’t live in New York?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — Japan maybe.

PURPLE — What’s the music scene like in New York?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — Pretty dead. Occasional jazz gigs. Brooklyn has some cool bands, but everyone is broke. There’s no thriving industry here.

PURPLE — What’s your New York soundtrack?

CHARLOTTE KEMP MUHL — The sound of construction. There are constant jackhammer and drilling noises in the house next to us. It’s basically John Cage.

END