Kyle Novy is a singer-songwriter who teaches at Interlochen Arts Academy, and he’s embarked on an ambitious music project called Mount Valor.
Kyle sees himself as offering some alternatives to the often times, shallow pop music of today. His goal is to write songs that have a rich depth of meaning and that peer above the fray. Stylistically, he’ll be all across the board— from piano ballads, to folk music, to what he calls journeying songs, with sweeping string sections and tom-tom drums.
During a recent crowdfunding campaign, Kyle raised over $22,000 dollars from fans, and people who believe in his vision as an artist.
Kyle says often times today, artists are simply viewed as entertainers. And while he says he doesn’t have a problem with people who are focused on entertaining others, that’s not his ultimate goal.
“I know for me, that’s never been at my heart at all,” he says. “I mean, the core of entertain, the definition, comes from this sense of distracting. To entertain is to divert attention, or distract.”
Kyle wonders if that’s the opposite of what a lot of artists should be doing. For him personally, he wants to engage listener’s minds with his music, instead of numbing them. He wants to tap into the transformative power of music.
“I really want people to feel and think and get beyond even their sense and their world and see what’s going on in our culture,” he says. “What are we doing as humans— not just as Americans, but what is the human experience?”
Beginning in January, Kyle will release a song a week for the entirety of 2016— a whopping total of 52 songs. It should be noted that all the songs of Mount Valor will be free to download. Kyle says it’s important for him to have the freedom to give away his music at no cost.
“I’m thinking about the single mom who works two jobs, just trying to make ends meet,” says Kyle. “The last thing on her mind is finding the money to buy a certain album.
Kyle says that’s the beauty of music— that his songs could in some way reach someone and have an impact on their life. He says he would hate for money to be in the way.
You can track the progress of the Mount Valor project at www.mountvalor.com
Also on the show this week, we hear from host Kate Botello, who has a new show on Classical IPR. It’s called Show Tunes with Kate Botello, and will feature it’s 8th episode this Sunday.
Since Kate has a background in musical theater, she says she’s it’s been her dream to do a show tunes show. She said the idea for this show started, when a generous listener donated a collection of vinyl recordings of Tony-nominated shows from every year since 1949.
“You’ll hear things that are the hottest selling shows on Broadway right this very second, to classics and dance numbers like Damn Yankees, she says.
Show Tunes with Kate Botello can be heard on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm.
