Vintersorg
April 2007
Your previous album was released almost three years ago. How do you remember it was received by the media back then?
Actually, I don’t have any exact sales figures but I know that the media feedback was very well and we got very high points on most reviews. Of course there were people that didn’t like it, but that’s always the case. As for the fans I think we had both sides. Some of them really enjoyed it and some thought it was a little bit too complex. I guess that’s the case with every album: you win some fans you lose some fans. It’s nothing what I can think of when I write the music. But all in all “The Focusing Blur” got very good response from both media and fans and we gained some new fans that never heard Vintersorg before.
Last year was quite a busy year for you as far as releases go. First thing you released last year was the Cronian album together with Øystein. Can you tell me about that?
Øystein and me, we have known each other for a long time and even before I joined Borknagar we were talking about doing some project together. We had that idea in the back of our head for a long time. Øystein wrote some songs and then we went around chewing on those songs and it took us actually several years before we made a decision if we are going to do a project anyway. I don’t know the exact date and year when we decided to continue the project but we finally made the decision to do it with full scale and record and album and everything. And from that point it took us like less than a year to write and record the album. It was kind of a fast process once it started. (Laughs)
Was the album successful among the fans of Borknagar and Vintersorg?
Yeah, I think it was very successful. And for being a debut album it was even more successful because it wasn’t the kind of debut album that many bands do because people knew us from our other bands. So, in that sense it wasn’t a real debut album for us as musicians, but nevertheless a debut for Cronian. And it was received very well and the reviews were awesome actually.
Are you going to make more albums with Cronian?
Yes, definitely. Actually we have many songs completed already for the second album. We are writing material and recording them right away. Both Øystein and me are constantly in a composing mode. (Laughs) I’m recording stuff on a daily basis for a lot of different kind of projects. And it’s the same with Øystein, he’s always working on new Borknagar songs and Cronian songs, so we’re always in writing mode all the time.
So, when can we expect the second Cronian album?
We’ll try to complete the whole album during the summer, so hopefully you can expect an early 2008 release. And it’s gonna be out on the same label, Century Media.
You also did another project last year. Can you tell about Waterclime?
I’m a huge fan of progressive rock from the seventies and it was kind of an experiment for me. It’s not metal at all. It’s much more of a symphonic rock with seventies kind of vibe around. I’m using Mellotrons, lots of flutes and analogue synthesizers, so it’s a totally different thing and I really love it. Right now I’m recording the new album that is going to be released this summer. It’s gonna come out on a Finnish label called Lion Music.
Did you involve other musicians in this project?
No, it’s just me.
Also last year you had a Borknagar release. How did the fans appreciate the stripped down acoustic approach the band took on this album?
So far most of the fans loved it. We have had this idea for many years because Borknagar’s music would suit the acoustic settings very well. I can’ t remember when we made that decision but over the years we always felt that we have to do that one day. And this time as we were talking about doing a new album we came to the conclusion that it was the right time to do this acoustic album. And we’re very pleased with it especially that we also hired a professional flutist, violinist and other musicians. I think the songs are great and the whole atmosphere on the album is perfect and the fans seem to like it as well.
And how was singing on that album? I mean there’s no growling, only the beauty part of your voice...
Yeah, that’s true. Actually I didn’t think about it that much. I tried to use a more kind of a softer attitude on my clean vocals. On regular Borknagar albums when I use my clean vocals there’s lots of energy and power in it. On this album it’s much more kind of sensitive approach. Still there are many different kinds of voices in there. Also Lars was doing some vocals and our voices kind of fit very well together on the album.
Speaking of your voice... I guess you started with the growls and then tried out the clean singing.
I have always known that I can sing. (Laughs) But when I was a kid I didn’t have any interest in that. I was much more into bass and drums and guitars and other instruments. Of course I also did some vocals but they I started growling in a band when I was 13-14 years old. From that point I focused a lot on the growling but I also had some side projects in my hometown with some other friends where we were playing cover songs and I did some vocals there as well. So, I knew that I am able to do some clean vocals. But I don’ t know how it developed. I don’t go to any vocal teachers or whatever. I try to develop it by myself. I sing a lot and do it by heart and just try to reach the next level with every album.
Well, let’s see the new album then. What was your musical vision when you sat down and started composing?
The main goal was to take back to a little bit more kind of ethnic and folk music oriented approach. Also I wanted to make the songs a little bit more straightforward than on the last album, because we knew after the release of “The Focusing Blur” that we can’t go on with more albums like that. We felt that it would be very hard to continue on that path. We felt that we have to take a new turn and we tried to find a new way to express ourselves. Me and Mattias came to the conclusion that we wanted a lot more folky approach with a lot of the acoustic guitars back. That was just the main idea in my mind when I was started writing for the album. And from that point it just developed very naturally. I didn’t really think about it while I was writing. I just went by my heart.
The album is called “Solens Rötter” “The Roots of the sun”. What does it reflect to?
It reflects the lyrics, it reflects our current state as a band. I think it’ s a very good representative of Vintersorg. And also since it’s a Swedish title and the Swedish pronunciation really gives it something unique. Those words are not often combined together because “rötter” means “root” and it’s mainly used in biological terms and the sun is much more is a physical thing. Also it bears a very poetic sound in Swedish. We wanted to have this very close connection to nature and also trying to give a little depth to it with the cosmic aspect of it.
There’s no Vintersorg album without the cosmic aspect...
No, that’s true. (Laughs)
The latest Borknagar album was called “Origin”, which is like “roots” so maybe you’re living your “back to the roots” days?
Well, it’s just by their names. I mean the new Vintersorg album is not an old Vintersorg album when we involved a lot of folk music. I guess for the previous 2-3 albums we have used more progressive and complex structures and we have that with us in our veins now. (Laughs) So, that’s in our music anyway. And this new album has a lot more folk elements but not the way they were present on the early Vintersorg albums. Every album is a new experience and you develop with every album. We just wanted to go back a little bit to the folk elements but still keep it fresh.
Btw, how does it differ writing for Cronian, Vintersorg, Borknagar or any other of your projects?
Well, the creative process is kind of the same. I think it’s kind of easy to write for different projects because then I try to sink into the mood of that specific project. From that I can build up a vision of how I want to proceed with the songs. So, I find it easy to switch between these projects. And I’m not joining a project just because I have to. I do because I want and I have some musical need that I need to fill. Every project I’m doing is very important to me.
This time the whole lyrics are in Swedish. How come?
Well, when we started writing we wanted to have at least a few songs in Swedish on the album. Is started to write two songs and I was really inspired by writing in Swedish because the last album was all in English and it was kind of digging really deep in the core of the relation between men and nature and that was all in English. But this time as I wrote in Swedish I got inspired to write more and more. And the more I wrote the more inspired I got. So all of a sudden I had a lot of songs with Swedish lyrics and I was like, “How could I fit the English lyrics in there?” Then I thought, “Why not do it in all Swedish?”
I love the language but I’m not everyone feels the same about Swedish. Aren’ t you afraid that this will turn some people off your music?
Yeah, of course it can happen. I can see some people feel it is not that good because they can’t understand the words anymore, but on the other hand if you listen to the music there’s a lot of emotions involved. I guess even if you don’t know the exact words you can still understand what kind of atmosphere we wanted to create. The words are important of course as I put a lot of energy and effort into writing good lyrics, so the words mean a lot, so that kind of importance is lost for those that don’t understand Swedish. But we’ll put up some translations on the website later for non-Swedish speakers.
What would be your favourite moment on the new album?
Taking out specific songs is really hard but a very specific moment was when we were mixing the album and I felt that everything just came together. That was a really nice feeling.
Prior to the release you said on your website that the new album was not going to be the second part of “The Focusing Blur”. Why?
Actually on my MySpace site something went wrong. I put out some news by myself and I wrote “Don’t expect Till Fjälls Part 2” and somehow that was kind of transformed “Don’t expect The Focusing Blur Part 2”. (Laughs) But I guess both is correct because it’s not a second part any of our previous albums. It’s a little bit of a new direction.
And do you see yourself making a part 2 of any of your albums in the future?
Hopefully not. (Laughs) Then I guess it was time to quit because I never understand that kind of thinking when it comes to art. I can understand when it comes to do a performance. I mean you perform the same songs every night and you try to perform them even better each time. But I can’t write the same type of songs and just to be a little bit better. It would bore me to death and I would rather not do it at all. I’ve always been very serious with my art. It’s not just about writing good songs, it’s much deeper than that for me. It’s the way to express myself.
Speaking of art, the album cover art is very simple but nice. Was it done especially for this album?
No, it wasn’t made for this album. I think it’s an alchemist but I don’t know the story behind the picture. We wanted to have a clean, simple cover instead of a noisy one where you can’t see what’s on it.
Do you have the same players on “Solens Rötter” compared to the ones that played on “The Focusing Blur”?
No. This is just me, Mattias and another guy called Johan lindgren. He’s a local bass player that played with us, so it was just the three of us recording the album. It’s not that we didn’t want to use Steve (DiGiorgio) and Asgeir (Mickelson) because we love their art and wizardry and what they do and they are really great. But this album was much more straightforward and we felt that we didn’t required their skills this time
Unfortunately most of your projects were only meant for the studio but the fans would really love to see you guy on stage performing shows. What are the chances for 2007?
I think they’re very bad. (Laughs) Now, I’m actually studying full time and I have job on the side, I have two kids, I have a lot of projects going on. My studies are taking a lot of energy. I’m going to be a teacher and I’m putting a lot of time and soul into that. It’s very hard for us to do shows. Of course we’d love to do some festivals. We’ll see what happens. We’re not a live act as we’re just two people in the band, so we’d have to hire musicians every time we want to do something.