The pressure to deliver something cinematic, meaningful, and massive with your second album is real — but for Koven, Moments in Everglow wasn’t about chasing scale. It was about honoring the long, often brutal road that got them here.
Built from orchestras, high-stakes collabs, and a whole lot of lived experience, the album lands with the clarity of artists who remember exactly what it took to make it. On the surface, it’s their most immersive release yet. But underneath, it’s a quiet affirmation that persistence matters — and that knowing when to walk away is just as powerful as knowing when to push through.
In this interview, Katie Koven reflects on the emotional toll of creativity, how her perspective has evolved, and why the best reset button might just be a walk outside with a dog you don’t have yet.
How do you zoom out when you’re stuck on a problem?
I think just walking away from the situation for a period of time is one of the healthiest things you can do when you’re creating. Sometimes I’ll stare at a project screen, trying to think of lyrics and write something, and it makes me so upset when I can’t come up with anything, or when whatever I’m writing just doesn’t sound good.
In those moments, I have to walk away from it for a few days. If it’s something that just requires a quick reset, I’ll go for a walk and come back feeling clear-headed.
What’s one perspective shift that changed how you saw a challenge?
A lot of my perspective comes from thinking about the previous jobs I’ve had.
So if I’m ever feeling super stressed in a writing session and I think, this is too difficult, I remember how much harder it was to work as a waitress for minimum wage. I also think about all the people who would give so much to be in the situation that Max and I are in.
Do you ever bring in outside input to shake things loose?
Yes, we do this all the time. We work with different producers and writers. This can really help create new avenues for style and outcome. I think we’ve both learnt so much from the people we’ve worked with over time, Max from the production side and me from the writing side.
Once you’ve seen someone else’s process, you always remember it, and it’s always there for you to try when you feel stuck.
What helps you remember the bigger picture during micro frustrations?
For me, the bigger picture always comes back to how long we were trying for.
We had about an eight-year period where we were so financially stressed, with such limited opportunities coming in, and things just weren’t going the way we needed them to. Sometimes, when things feel overwhelming, we think back to those two very stressed, very skint people who never imagined we’d get this far.
When have you reframed something creatively and found a better way forward?
This goes back to working with other people. From a writing perspective, if I’ve got an instrumental I’m struggling with, I’ll put it to the side and save it for when Max and I have a session together, because we have quite different writing styles. It’s such a cliché, but two heads really are better than one.
The same applies to production collaborations — there have been times when Max and I were completely stuck on a track, and then we brought someone else in who did something unexpected on the drop that completely changed the direction, and that’s exactly why it worked.
How do you keep small setbacks from clouding the overall goal?
Setbacks are to be expected in every area of life. We’ve become quite used to the idea that nothing happens until it actually happens, so we don’t get excited about opportunities until they’re confirmed.
That mindset comes from having many past situations where we expected something to come through, and it just didn’t. I don’t think we’ve really struggled with setbacks in terms of our mentality — we’ve definitely had them — but we’ve always been quite thick-skinned. One thing I still struggle with, though, is negative online comments. That’s something I’m still learning how to deal with.
What’s a go-to tool you use to pull yourself out of a stuck mindset?
I think nature is one of the best things to pull you out of a funk. When I go for a walk, it clears my head so much, to actually stop and listen, to look at the birds in the trees. It’s even better if you can go with a friend or partner, because you end up talking about different things and getting your mind out of the loop it was stuck in.
One of the things I’m most excited about in the future is getting a dog — I believe they can help massively with stress.
The post “Nothing Happens Until It Happens”: Koven on Creative Setbacks appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.