Kip Berman, a local singer and songwriter, will showcase his talents and passion to Princeton.
Berman, who used to be in the band, “The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,” has gone solo and will play songs from his new project entitled, “The Natvral- Know Me More.”
He will deliver his songs at the Princeton Record Exchange at 2 p.m. on Oct. 6. The venue is located on Tulane Street in Princeton.
Berman has described his latest project as “neither solo project nor side project, but as an opportunity for him to create music that connects to his present life.”
Recently, Berman and his wife have moved from Brooklyn to Princeton, where Berman has become a father. Berman, who grew up in Philadelphia, went out to Portland, Oregon, to attend Reed College, where music was his last thought.
“I could barely play three cords in college,” Berman said. “Everyone always told me that I should teach music, but I couldn’t even sing in tune. I wasn’t quite as adept at that.”
But, Berman found that he liked the music scene out in Portland and joined some bands.
Berman revealed that he loved to pick up a guitar and just play.
“I was just in a bunch of groups where we played in basements,” he said. “But when I moved to New York, I thought that all was over because I didn’t have a basement anymore to play in. But, I met other people who were into the same style of music that I was, and we started this band.”
His band was called ‘’The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.’’
Berman continued with his story.
“Now, I have been in bands where people didn’t pay much attention to us, most bands are like that. But, we [The Pains of Being Pure at Heart] played a bunch of shows and recorded some music and people seemed excited about it. We got some pretty incredible opportunities from it.”
Berman, along with “The Pains of Being Pure at Heart” recorded various songs and albums and ended up going on a few tours to promote their music. But, it was when Berman was in London on tour with the band that he really discovered he loved to play more on his own.
“When we were in London I stayed an extra two days and my friend had a recording studio and invited me to come out and record a few songs,” he said. “I realized pretty quickly that there was a different feeling to the music, a different weight. It wasn’t right for the music that I was doing with, ‘’The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’’ and we just recorded them more or less live. It was a really great feeling just to create this in a spontaneous way and not be burdened by the complexities of music. I feel that a lot of artists like to craft this narrative of creative struggle, but I recorded this EP in two days and honestly those two days were more time than we needed. It was very uncomplicated to make this, and it was a great feeling to create this and it captured the spontaneity and energy that maybe hasn’t been in my music for a while.”
Berman’s love for music is encapsulated in his first solo recording and is glad that he has moved on from the trouble of putting a five-member band together.
“‘The Natvral’ is just me,” he said. “I kind of got a little worn out by the idea of having to have everything in place. Like the challenge of trying to get five people in the same place at the same time and getting everything to be just so. I just wanted to make music in a different way and just focus on the parts that I liked the most, like writing songs and singing them for people, and just being able to play anytime anywhere. This is a great way for me to connect with the types of music that I like the most and not have to deal with some of the other aspects of managing a professional band, because that took away from the things that I really like to do, such as playing the guitar and singing for people.”
‘The Natvral- Know Me More,’ is set to release on Oct. 5 from Kaine Records. Berman is scheduled to perform at Princeton Record Exchange, 20 S Tulane Street, Princeton at 2 p.m. on Oct. 6.