Musician Yves Tumor and artist Kembra Pfahler are radical performers who had never met. Brought together for the first time here, they discuss stage fright, extreme performance and why happiness is overrated
KEMBRA PFAHLER
Nice to meet you, Yves. I was asked to do this interview with you and I thought, “Well, this sounds like a wonderful person to speak to.” Then I started listening to your songs and I thought they go on a tremendous adventure. I made you an award - you deserve it.
YVES TUMOR
[Laughs.] Whaaaat? It's a Statue of Liberty with my name on it? Thank you so much, it's beautiful. I love it. Now I feel bad for not bringing you anything. I wasn't sure if you even knew who I was or cared, so I was super-excited when this interview was confirmed.
KP How has your day been? You're in Paris, right?
YT Yeah. My day was really nice. I went to my favourite bookstore, it's called 1909 - they just moved it to Dover Street Market - I bought some books and some clothes. And now I'm at my friend's house and he has all these insane fetish latex magazines from the Sixties and Seventies.
KP I've been listening to your songs [from your new album, Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)] and you really don't sound like anyone I've ever listened to. It's very strange, the way you put shit together. There are these very typical paradigms of putting a song together, and the way you put songs together is really beautiful and very strange. These songs have such trippy, strange beginnings. It's like watching a movie - the songs are cinematic. God Is a Circle, Lovely Sewer, Interlude, Parody, Operator… It doesn't sound like any other shit I've heard. And I loved how you chose your guitar and your bass. Has that been fun for you,
