MORPHEUS
MUSIC INTERVIEW - AMETHYSTIUM
01.12.06
|
| |
| |
 |
|
|
|
| Q:
Would you tell us a bit about your musical origins –
what started you into making music, what were your early influences?
|
|
We
had music and instruments around a lot when I grew up, so
I started playing quite early and got into music school
as a kid for instrument lessons. I can’t really remember
not loving music, so it was pretty much a basic thing right
from the beginning. And as a kid I also starting making
little tunes on the piano, two of which I can still remember
actually. But then I stopped doing that for some reason
and didn’t pick it up again until I was 13 or 14 and
started playing in bands and recording my songs on a cassette
player, etc. The latter is pretty much what Amethystium
grew from, when I moved from writing guitar-type songs to
synthesizer-based instrumentals.
My early influences for this type of music
were Vangelis, Deep Forest and Enigma. I think Deep Forest
was the first electronic-based music I got really enthusiastic
about, and they were certainly an influence. I also remember
listening a lot to Vangelis’ 1492 score and Voices
album.
|
|
Q :
Back in the days of mp3.com your music seemed to strike
a chord with listeners right from the start – how did
this affect your musical progress?
|
|
Honestly I don’t think it affected my musical progress
in any way really, except maybe giving me a bit of extra
confidence in what I was doing. And also it made me able
to afford some more equipment through the money that came
from it. But it didn’t change what I wanted to do
in any way. I’ve always worked kind of slowly, so
I probably didn’t write a whole lot of new music during
that period anyway.
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q :
Your sound has clearly developed since Odonata and the early
material – what influenced the changes? |
|
I can’t
think of anything specific, it just developed naturally. Some
of it probably came from listening to new music, learning
new things technically, and all sorts of minor things. The
general idea behind the music has been the same throughout
the first three albums though. |
|
Q :
How did you go about selecting tracks for Emblem? |
|
Partly it
was an elimination process where I basically took all my favourite
songs - which turned out to be most of them - and tried to
decide which ones had to go. And at the same time it was an
attempt to make it a new and coherent musical journey. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q :
Having completed what has become known as ‘the dragonfly
trilogy’ and summed everything up via Emblem –
what changes are in store? Is there a new vision now? |
|
My ideas for
this 4th album has gone through so many incarnations by now
that I’m almost not sure what to say, but yes I have
a different approach to it and I guess you could say it’s
a new vision. My mental imagery for the music is quite different,
and the songs tend to be more inspired by personal experiences
and the “real world” so to speak – it has
less of the nature-inspired Tolkienesque imagery, though it’s
still very much an otherworldly type of mood. It’s difficult
to say exactly how much my ideas and feelings shines through
to people in the actual music though, cause I’m not
totally changing the sound. We’ll see – it’s
still in the making. |
|
Q :
How do you go about creating your music – what is your
method of writing/recording?
|
|
It varies
somewhat, but the starting point is usually a short melody,
chord progression or rhythm, and then I build on it from there.
You know the old painting metaphor of putting on layer after
layer. Sometimes I will work on details in the arrangement
or production at the beginning of the song before having any
idea of how the song will continue after that, and other times
I compose the “big picture” from start to finish
and then go back over it and do the detail work. I often tend
to compose different sections of a song sort of on their own
though, like it’s moving through different chapters.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Q :
Amethystium’s loops and beats are always interesting
– how do you construct these? |
|
Oh, a
lot of it, at least on the earlier songs, is based around
sampled loops where I just add elements, layers, and edit
things. More and more I’ve programmed things from
scratch though, often by a combination of initial finger-playing
percussion sets on the keyboard and pure programming. It’s
a bit like the “painting a picture” thing again.
I have a pastime as a drummer and I’ve always enjoyed
the rhythmic side of things. Some Amethystium songs have
original rhythm tracks that I’m a bit proud of, and
on some others the rhythms are so sample-based that I can
hardly take any credit for them at all. |
|
Q :
What is the hardest thing in making your music?
|
|
I don’t know, the whole process
of getting the music from my head and realized as a presentable
recording can often be quite hard, i.e. the whole technical
side of things really. That’s where 80% of the time
goes for me, and I’m not particularly good at it
I think, it’s still usually a bit of a struggle.
I sometimes wish I could just compose the melodies, cause
that’s the part that happens easily and spontaneously
for me.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q :
Your graphics have always had a magical quality to
them - how important is the overall Amethystium image to you?
|
|
I
think the visuals are important for setting the tone and
mood of the music, and I think it serves a purpose as a
sort of framework in that way. It’s something I’d
really like to take that a step further, with videos for
instance.
|
|
Q :
How much input do you have on the graphic side of things?
|
|
Quite a bit, for better or worse. In the
beginning I did all the graphics and covers myself, and
I still do the website designs. The album covers on the
officially released CD’s have all been done by others
though, different designers on every album actually. There
I’ve just had some initial ideas, and then I follow
the process and say what I like and don’t like, and
so on – not always for the better I’m sure.
I’m really happy with how Brian Son designed the Emblem
package though. There I made a contribution by providing
the source photos he worked with, which where all taken
through the windows and right outside of my previous studio
in the countryside. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q :
What do you think the fans would like from Amethystium
in the future? Do the demands of your fans have much influence
on what you produce? |
|
I don't think there is much
consensus about that really. People seem to be attracted to
different aspects of the music, so I’m sure some would
want it more relaxing, some want it darker, some more upbeat,
some want it to stay the same, etc. I must admit that I don’t
really think much about that, so the influence is little or
nothing, but the feedback is very rewarding and encouraging,
and contributes to make me want to go on and create more music. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks
to Øystein and Neurodisc for allowing us that interview.
|
 |
| |
