A Word with the Bird: Kinneret Chats with The Phoenix

Taking flight in 2020 after posting her unconventional single “No Wind Resistance!” Brooklyn-based indie pop artist Kinneret’s career took off. The song’s atypical production and free-spirited lyrics have launched it to nearly 150 million streams on Spotify.

Now on the cusp of her fourth album “Field Guide,” releasing Oct. 24, the eclectic psychedelic popstar sat down with The Phoenix to discuss her sudden rise, latest LP and the “Migration Tour,” which kicked off at Subterranean Sept. 20. Both questions and answers have been condensed for clarity.

For readers who might not know, who is Kinneret?

Well, Kinneret is me. That’s my birth name — so it’s not a stage name — and I’m a singer, producer, writer, performer, electro-pop lady.

You’re on your second tour and this is your fourth album — all independent. How does this feel? Did you imagine when you first released your debut album “DMZ” that you would get to this point?

It’s my third tour overall. It’s my second headliner. But I guess I never imagined it. I definitely didn’t think when I was writing my first songs on guitar in 10th grade that I would be able to have people I don’t know show up and sing my lyrics to me and have people want to be in my band and play music with me. It is pretty special, and it’s also important to remember how special that is when I can get caught up in the stress or the pressure. I just remember, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m living the dream.’

The first song that really launched your career, “No Wind Resistance!” drew in a lot of hate. As a new artist at the time, how did that make you feel? Did it change the way you approached releasing or promoting music?

It kind of all caught me off guard. The song started blowing up when I was still graduating high school. I was a new artist, but I was also just a girl making music. I think there was an equal amount of love as there was hate. Everyone just had a really strong opinion about it, which was interesting. And that got overwhelming at times. But now, looking back, it meant the music was interesting, and I’m really proud of that. I think it’s part of what made the song get as big as it did, was that it was controversial. So if anything, since then, I’ve approached releasing and writing music as like, be as weird as you can.

While your last three albums carried a similar trap-pop psychedelia sound, “Field Guide” bridges more into dance-pop. What inspired that shift?

I’m evolving musically and as a person, and I’m listening to more dance-y electropop and I’m not as much in my trap phase. So that’s being reflected by what I’m making. Aside from the sound itself, I think I was just excited to do something a little different because I’ve been releasing music since I was like 17, and I’m 23 now.

So tell us a little about “Field Guide.”

Well, I’m a huge birdwatcher. I love birds, and that’s kind of a play on that. I’m always looking at field guides, and field guides to anything are full of these imagery and fun facts. It’s instant fascination and wonder when you read a field guide, and I wanted that to be the experience when people hear this album and read the lyrics. I wanted it to be a field guide to whatever it is they want.

You’ve released three singles and your fourth is on the way. Which would you say has been your favorite to create?

I think “Price of Pop,” the one that’s about to release [Sept. 24], was my favorite to make and see come to fruition. First of all, I made it in London on a little trip I did to work with Jessica Winter, who was the producer on the track. Fun fact — I kind of have a British accent in the chorus, unintentionally. I received texts in 10th grade from this girl who was like, ‘You take your little songs too seriously. We all agree.’ I had just discovered those texts again, and then I looked up and I’m in London, working with a cool producer, doing my thing. And so that became the first line of the song, and then the song became my response.

On your other albums, you have a lot of features from up-and-coming artists. Is that something people can expect with this latest release?

“The next single ‘Price of Pop’ has a feature on it. It’s another up-and-coming artist, also in the electronic dance-y pop world, who I’m friends with. But that’s the only feature. I went less heavy on features for this one because I wanted this album to really be like, ‘This is who I am.’

“Field Guide” releases Oct. 24 on all major streaming platforms and is available to pre-save now.