After the mighty upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start, the Bearded Russian continues his talks within the post-rock genre,this time with Ef,one of the biggest names in the scandinavian scene. After 2 critically acclaimed albums, the swedish quintet turned into a trio and released "Mourning Golden Morning".You guys released your new album "Mourning Golden Morning" two weeks ago; how were the reactions to it,both from the fans and press,so far?
Niklas : The press have been very positive so far. Of course some people don’t like it, what else could you expect, but at least 9 of 10 is praising it – and it means a lot to us, cause we put pretty much effort in promoting it properly. The fans have also been giving us very nice comments on communities such as Myspace and Facebook and we’ve been playing almost all songs from the new album on the tour we’re currently on and people have showed positivity to our new live set.
What can you tell us about the album? What are the main differences, when compared to your previous work?
Niklas : Personally we think it’s more straight on, more direct and focused. A little bit harder, but without loosing that emotional tenderness, and the dynamics we always have been striving after. We still try to create epic, explosive and experimental rock.
Both "I am responsible" and " Give me beauty...or give me death" were very well received by the press. Did it pressure you, when you were writing "Mourning Golden Morning" ?
Niklas : Not really. Our earlier albums are pretty different from each other. “Mourning golden morning” kind of wrap it all up. When we started the process of writing “Mourning golden morning” we decided to go all the way. Rent a “real” studio, a “real” producer and put a lot of money into the production. Before we’ve always been doing everything by ourselves with help from friends. And this fact also gave us a extra spark to create something that varies from earlier work. But this also made us more nervous when we started to send out the early promo copies to magazines, blogs and such… How would the critics react to us this time?!
You've been through some line-up changes. What happened? Did that affect the songwriting process in any way?
Niklas : Yes… “Mourning golden morning” is recorded as a three piece. Earlier we’ve always been 5. All songs were written with just guitars and drums. It went pretty quick with the writing process and the recording sessions were floating really well. Though it was a hard time sitting up all nights in the studio, making up and record bass lines. And improvising pianos etc..
Also Daniel Öhman is back in the band after two years break (during the “I am responsible” area). Some people say you can hear that, since songs he have been working a lot with the early material from “Give me beauty…”. Claes left the band early 2009 to focus on immanu el – who also put a lot of energy into making some kind of break in Europe. They tour a lot and just released their second album as well… But there was no fights etc… Just lack of time.
The album will be released in vynil by a german label called Kapitän Platte. Nowadays, when an album is only a couple of "clicks" away, how important do you think it is to release special editions and vynil editions to the fans?
Niklas : We’re really happy that it gets released on vinyl. Personally I’m a vinyl freak and hardly buy CDs. But there’s still people asking for this, that’s why we try to put time and energy into the artworks. Make it look nice, with digi paks etc. We also release it in UK with handmade artwork, silk screened on eco cardboard by Shelsmusic. I would definitely rather buy a album that I can really feel that someone have created with their bare hands. We also release it in Japan with a bonus track, which you also can download at iTunes. So we try to make some stuff more exclusive if you actually want to pay money for it.
Besides yourselves, there are a lot of good post-rock/instrumental rock bands in Sweden, like Immanu El,September Malevolence,Pg.lost,Jeniferever... Would you say that there is a strong post-rock scene in your country? What do you think of it?
Niklas : I would say that there’s a lot of post rock/experimental bands from Sweden – yes. But the “scene” is pretty small. There’s some people who really burns for this, but you can hardly get a show, and less likely: get a tour together. Sweden is big, but not populated enough. Long distances makes it hard to get something going. Which is sad.
What have been listening/reading and watching lately?
Niklas : Personally I’m a huge fan of the TV-series “Lost”. Music wise I’m really into what I’d call sophisticated and rhythmic indie such as Arcade fire, Yeasayer, Local Natives, Efterklang and stuff with both melodies and loads of drums. Books I don’t read.
What inspires you to write a song?
Niklas : Our everyday lives. What happens with us, around us, and the people we hold dear.
What are your plans for the future?
Niklas : We’ll tour as much as possible, and try to go to new territories and countries. We’ve plans for France, Spain and Portugal in the fall. We also hope to get the album a proper release overseas (US) – and maybe start working on a EP.
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