Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Our last concert preview today comes from Cavetown, the alias of the British New York-based singer-songwriter Robin Skinner.
[MUSIC - Cavetown: Tarmac]
Is there nothing that I could tell you
To make you wanna leave
Residence in my cranium
Washed down with something sweet
(Mmm, aah)
Sweet like tarmac, I'd eat that
Get your fingers out of my mouth
I like bad things I can't have
Tell me that it isn't over (aah)
Whatever comes up in my head
Alison Stewart: In 2022, Skinner founded the nonprofit This Is Home with the aim to provide safe housing and healthcare to LGBTQ+ young people. On December 14th, he'll perform at Music Hall of Williamsburg in a benefit show alongside friends, including rising musicians Annie DiRusso and Sydney Rose. In January, Cavetown will also be releasing a new album titled Running With Scissors, which captures a transitional period of his life that included moving to New York. Robin, welcome to All Of It.
Robin Skinner: Hello. Thank you for having me.
Alison Stewart: Your nonprofit is named after a song you released some 10 years ago when you were around 16 years old. It's called This Is Home. Where did that phrase come from?
Robin Skinner: I guess it came from a place within me where I didn't feel at home in my body, and I wanted to convince myself that I could feel at home in my body. I wrote it at a time where I didn't have a lot of people in my life who had a similar experience to mine with being queer, being a trans person. I sang it to myself. I sang it as a little lullaby to myself, to comfort myself while I was figuring myself out. It's been amazing to see that touch so many people that are just like me, and for them to inspire me by sharing in that experience.
Alison Stewart: This is a version of the song that you did in 2019. We're going to play a little bit of it.
[MUSIC - Cavetown: This Is Home]
Often I am upset
That I cannot fall in love but I guess
This avoids the stress of falling out of it
Are you tired of me yet?
I'm a little sick right now but I swear
When I'm ready I will fly us out of here
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
I'll cut my hair
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
To make you stare
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
I'll hide my chest and I'll
Figure out a way to get us out of here
Alison Stewart: Robin, how has the song or its meaning changed for you over the last decade?
Robin Skinner: It's changed a lot, for sure. It was a song originally that I wrote for myself, coming from a very lonely place and feeling out of place in myself and in my identity. Over the years, I've played it probably hundreds of times now for audiences all over the world. Every time I play it, it's crazy to me to be in front of people, the very people that I needed at the time that I wrote the song originally.
Now it's become more of an anthem for me of community and the support that I'm able to give to my community and the support that they give to me in return. Whenever we sing it at the end of a set, it feels like the room-- We're all giving each other a hug, and we all understand one another. It's really cool that there's been a positive shift for me in the meaning of the song.
Alison Stewart: I'm speaking to Robin Skinner, aka Cavetown. He's leading a benefit concert next Sunday, December 14th, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Your nonprofit is This Is Home Project. What's the focus of the project?
Robin Skinner: It's really to uplift my community to-- We raise funds and work closely with organizations that help with the LGBTQ+ homeless youth situation and helps uplift-- We help to uplift people in my community, whether that's in education, if they need support with their mental health. I've done a bit of fundraising for people's transitions and their surgeries, and essentially just a way for me to keep showing up for my community that have gotten me so far and changed my life. I want to do the same for them.
Alison Stewart: You're hosting this concert on December 14th. What's the plan? Who's in the lineup?
Robin Skinner: Well, I'm going to be there, of course. My dear friend Chloe Moriondo, who I go way back with. I believe Chloe also did our previous benefit show, so that'll be great to see her again there. Annie DiRusso, Sidney Gish, Sydney Rose, and my two friends who form the band Tall Girlfriends, and also Dreamer Isioma, who I'm very excited to see there. I'm a big fan of his music.
I was listening to your previous interview, and I have a similar situation where I selfishly just want to see all of these great artists together in one place. It's also my birthday the day afterwards, which is another parallel, so it's a birthday celebration for me too. [chuckles]
Alison Stewart: You've been connected to New York for a while. Your previous benefit shows also happened here, but now you're officially based here. How has settling into New York felt?
Robin Skinner: Yes. It's definitely been a challenge and-- [silence]
[MUSIC - Cavetown: NPC]
Alison Stewart: Robin, are you here? Are you there? I think we lost Robin, unfortunately. Well, I was speaking to Robin Skinner, aka Cavetown. He's heading a benefit concert next Sunday, December 14th, at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Proceeds will go to his charity, This Is Home Project, which helps provide LGBTQ young people with housing and healthcare. Congratulations and good luck with your benefit happening on Sunday, December 14th. Let's go out on his song, NPC.
[MUSIC - Cavetown: NPC]
Nobody knows me
That's what they call me, you-know-who
Got a void for a body
No one can see me, not even you
I settle in (I settle in)
I light a salt lamp, blow the fuse
I pick my skin (I'm picking my skin)
Can't get comfy, no, I refuse
I can't stand the space in between
Nobody sees what I see
Here I go on a plane again to a place
Where I literally live, still, it's all new to me
Uncanny valley girl dream
The main character acting like an NPC
Everybody's at home or away
Or in some third place, but
I live in the space in between
I livе in the space in between
I livе in the space in between
Not nobody for nothing
Alison Stewart: That is All Of It. All Of It is produced by Andrea Duncan-Mao, Kate Hinds, Jordan Lauf, Simon Close, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, L. Malik Anderson, and Luke Green. Megan Ryan is the head of Live Radio. Our engineers are Juliana Fonda and Amber Bruce. Our intern was India Rice. Thanks, India. Luscious Jackson does our music. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening, and I appreciate you. I'll meet you back here next time.
