N. Kerbin for Movo Sessions: Open Concept

It’s been a very busy year at Movo. We launched a bunch of new products, and had so many great opportunities to connect with creators in our community and beyond. 

Our new live acoustic Movo Sessions series was one major highlight of 2021. We’ve had a blast bringing artists into Movo HQ to share their songs and stories. 

To celebrate the new year, we’re sharing one last tune by our good friend N. Kerbin. “Open Concept” showcases everything we love about Nate’s songwriting and performance style. This intimate tune draws you in with great metaphors and bittersweet imagery.  

With a first line like, “When I find an outlet, I’m gonna plug myself in,” what’s not to love?

We chatted with N. Kerbin about this song, as well as his creative process. 

Charles: Can you tell us about the inspiration for Open Concept?

Nate:During lockdown in 2021, I was watching a lot ofProperty Brothers. Probably way too muchProperty Brothers. So I started spending time thinking about the architecture of relationships – from the basic foundations to the framework to the segmented rooms – and how we put those architectures to work. 

Open Concept focuses on the ground floor of relationships. If the foundation isn't strong, it doesn't matter how many floors and walls and ceilings you build on top of it. And without the solid foundation, all it takes is a tiny splinter for the structural integrity of the whole thing to fall apart. 

Charles: Speaking of building things from the ground up, here are lots of beautiful layers and textures in your recordings. I understand you’re a multi-instrumentalist. Can you share a bit about your recording process?

Nate: I love building textures that you could never replicate or even identify just by listening to them. Where some producers might just turn to a synth to construct them, I prefer layering a bunch of live instruments to make something a little different. Mostly that comes from feeling like if I’m able to play an instrument, then Ishould play it. 

Charles: I like that. A lot of people seem to be taking the easy way out in terms of music production these days. That’s refreshing. One more question: what’s been turning you on musically lately?

Nate: It’s a cliche at this point for people who write songs like mine, but anything Aaron Dessner touches has been an earworm for me. I’ve been very into The National and Big Red Machine for a long time, and the work he’s been doing lately with artists like Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams is really inspiring in the way it straddles the line between nuanced folk-ish songwriting and massive pop appeal. 

On the other side of the coin, I’ve been digging back into a lot of my old teenage favorites like The Movielife and The Bouncing Souls, bands that remind me it’s ok to be completely raw – not everything has to hide behind clever wordplay and perfect playing. Oh yeah and also on the production side of things, Kenny Beats. He’s worked with everyone from Denzel Curry to James Vincent McMorrow to Idles. Seeing someone so unconcerned with genre is really inspiring.

Charles: Thanks for the recs! We’ll definitely be updating our N. Kerbin playlist with some of those names. 

Enjoy N. Kerbin’s performance on Movo Sessions, and stay tuned in 2022 for more exciting artists, coming to you live from Movo HQ! 

Happy New Year from the Movo family to yours.