Q&A: Mildcat Introduces Listeners to the Mellow Indie Sounds of His Brain on Debut EP ‘over thinking’
EVEN OUR LOUDEST EMOTIONS DESERVE A QUIET MOMENT — and over the past few years, everyone on the planet experienced all of the loudest emotions at once. As we encountered these highs and lows, the desire to confront them found its way to the forefront of artistic expression. On his debut EP, over thinking, Mildcat, the pseudonym of musician Kevin Ripperger, confronts these feelings in his own way.
“People have been reaching out that they connect to [the EP],” Ripperger says. “And it just makes me feel really nice when people reach out … because I do this for that.”
Ripperger wrote the album in the midst of one of the cycles of highs and lows in his personal life. Having moved away from his hometown to attend college, the album confronts the isolation he felt during this time, along with several other feelings he encountered along the way.
“This album is kind of like a grab bag of feelings,” Ripperger explains. “Each song speaks to a different feeling: ‘home in my head’ is certainly about anxiety… ‘delusions’ is frustration at the world. ‘Madman’ is just depression, and then ‘remembering’ is about nostalgia. Then ‘some kind of reason’ is about almost understanding what life's about, but not really — like just almost getting there — and it's a feeling that doesn't stay.”
The singer-songwriter juxtaposes these heavier themes with melodic vocals over catchy, upbeat acoustic guitars. Coupled with light horns and funky drums, the EP never bogs listeners down. Instead, the light indie rock reminds listeners that even in darker times, a certain amount of levity still exists.
“The title, ‘over thinking,’ has a sort of a double meaning,” Ripperger explains. “Thinking too much obviously, but also ‘over, thinking’ as in, ‘I’m over it.’”
Ripperger recorded the EP, for the most part, alone in a booth at Cal State Chico, the namesake of his pseudonym being the school mascot, but flipping the W in Wildcat to an M to reflect the relentless anxiety he felt while attending the school’s recording arts program.
The singer-songwriter focused his vision for the final album over several sessions in the school’s recording booth, using 20 or more takes, layering vocals and guitar, then working with a team of friends to round out the final sound.
“I did have people help me on the album,” he says. “The drummer, his name is Nico Vives, he drummed on the first five tracks. My friend Kayla Holland played bass and trumpet, and my friend Slaine Miller played trombone. Kayla also mastered it at the very end.”
After working with this team, Ripperger spent several months on editing the project. Finalizing it until it was the sound that he had been looking for over the past two years of creating the EP.
“To a certain extent it is kind of like a solo album, even though I did have people help me on it,” he describes. “I had a vision that I didn't really want to bring too many other people in on, just because I wanted to be more authentically myself — my own sound.”
The final result is an endlessly relatable journey through the chaos of human emotions with a light indie flair acting as the guide. A trail that everyone treks, over thinking brings the listener through to the other side with a reassurance that these feelings are tough but survivable.
“My music is hard for me to describe, because to me it just sounds like my own brain,” Ripperger concludes. “But everyone has felt all of these ways, at least that's what I assume — everyone goes through the ups and downs of life.”
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