MORPHEUS MUSIC INTERVIEW - SOLAR FIELDS

05.12.05
     
 

Q: Now that the new albums are on release what are your feelings on the
finished results?		  

I'm really happy. It ended up perfect.

I wanted these albums to be different from the others and I think they are.

Why make a third or fourth album that sounds the same as I made before. For me this is important to have variations and new directions on every release.

  Q :  What has lead to you writing music in this particular style?

  

I'm not thinking that I'm doing something in a special style.What happens when I compose - that happens.

I'm just making music and this is the result. I've also been doing some different stuff but that’s for another project that I will open up more in the future when I have the time.
     
             
Q : Why did you decide on twin CDs for the new releases and not perhaps a
double album?		  

Since the sound is quite different on these two albums; the Leaving Home album is ambient to me, and Extended is space music.

I wanted to keep them separate. Two different stories. And why wait to release one of them since they both were finished?

   Q : You're clearly a trendsetter and not a follower of trends - where do your ideas come from?
 

Thanks for that comment :)


It's a lot of life experiences, dreams that I catch up, moments and feelings and transform it to music. Its what I have inside that comes out.
Sometimes dark sometimes bliss ? - That’s why also most of the tracks in my music are different from each other.

             
Q : Can you tell us something of your writing methods and/or playing
techniques?
  


It often starts with a single little sound that I play around with, adding maybe some rhythms and then suddenly I can hear some small harmonic vibrations in the tunes and new ideas are born directly.

Sometimes I can have a basic sound structure finished in my head, so then I just need to sit down in the studio and create and arrange the sounds.

 

   Q : Since you make good use of computer software - how much do you actually
'play' your tracks and how much are they programmed and fixed?
  

Hmmm, actually I don’t use so much computer software, not even midi. I am a hardware man and old school, I play everything live, like play and rec on an tape recorder. If the take was bad I delete and record it again. I actually need to see all the waveforms graphically displayed in front of me when I work.

Reading waveforms on screen does often lead to the birth of new ideas.

When it comes to drum programming, I manually place out the sounds in the timeline. Its very time-consuming but in the end you have total control of every little sound.

You should see the graphic result on the drum creation in the Stereo Hypnosis track; chaotic but I have full control on each little sound.

The idea of Studio Jupter is that it is like a gigantic modular synthesiser. One synthesiser is a little module of the whole thing. I can easily route everything as I want with a simple push on a button. Like if I want to take the sidestation and route it thru the Ms-20 filter then go in to the Nord Modular and out to an fx its quite simple for me.

This is the way I like to work, to use a lot of stuff even if it is only one simple sound. I stopped to work in the “traditional” way with midi vsti and audio for some years ago now, I felt too limited somehow. Sure there are a lot of great virtual diskette synths out there, but this is not for me, I found the way that’s perfect for me.
             
 
      
Q : You're obviously deeply involved in the visual aspects of your releases -
how would you say your images and music influence one another?
  

Its all about a combining the visual and audio.

When composing music there are visual elements or colours that I think about. Like the Cocoon Moon track is brown for me, when I did that track a lot of inner visual was brown. Colours and feelings are the same. I think u can see in the booklet of leaving home what I'm talking about.

   Q : Are you able to listen to your own music once it's finished? If so what
gives you the most satisfaction from the recent CDs? 		 

Usually when an album is finished I take a little break from the music to clear my brain from the sounds. But after that for sure I'm happy to listen to it again.

Its easy to forget how it really sounds after doing a lot of tracks. That's why it's good for me to take the break from all the music and rest my ears, and come back later to get like a new perspective on everything.
This is what I enjoy most in the final result, the final story.

             
Q : How does working with Ultimae contribute to your musical output?
  

The Ultimae team are the number 1 for me.

I have no pressure and totally doing everything in my own way and and without any stress. They are lovely and honest people that I respect a lot.

Been working for 5 years with them and there have been zero problems.

    Q :  What part does performing live play in the life of Solar Fields?  

It’s a quite big part, I'm totally into playing live.

Its amazing the connection with the people. For example this summer in 2005 I had some really magical gigs and that gives me inspiration to continue creating music.

 

           
         
 Q :   What do you see for the future? Any immediate projects on the horizon?
And long term?		  

For the future I will release some more uptempo stuff. Me and DJ Anti made a remix on the H.U.V.A. Network track Overload that will be out on 12” early next year on ACDC together with a totally new 130 bpm track.

Also a new H.U.V.A Network album would be cool, (Vince what do you say?) We have some ideas for that so we just have to get the thumbs out.

I have a lot of prog/psy trance tunes that I've been making during a period that hopefully will be out on an album next year.

Hmm a lot of things to do in fact so we see.

       

 

 

           

Thanks to Magnus Birgesson and everyone at Ultimae for allowing us that interview.