Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.31 07/00)
excerpts from an interview with Jan Erik Liljeström (Vocals, Bass) + Nicklas Berg (Guitar, Mellotron)
Nicklas: Just after we finished recording "Nucleus" Peter went to India, so we had a break for four months or so. When he got back in the beginning of march of 1996 we began playing gigs in Europe to promote the "Nucleus" album.
Jan Erik: We lived in a quite small town called Borlänge until the summer of 1996 when we moved down to Stockholm. It was easier for us to get work here and Nicklas could also take up his land-surveying studies in Stockholm. By then Borlänge was starting to get boring as well, so it was quite an easy choice once we'd made up our minds. But then it took a while before we really got settled here.
Nicklas: In 1997 we started to write new material and continued touring in Europe and we also went to Japan for three gigs and promotion. 1998 was a year of less activity. We were of course rehearsing and writing songs, but we only played three gigs in Canada and USA. Me and Peter also recorded an album with Stefan Dimle and Reine Fiske from Landberk with the hobby-band Morte Macabre and released the album "Symphonic Holocaust" in October 1998. After that we seriously wanted to record with Anekdoten, but we were not satisfied with some of the songs we had written, so we decided to write some more before we went in to the studio to record "From Whithin" in August 1999. Recording and mixing the album took a month. The day after we received the album from the manufacturers we went on tour in Europe. Six weeks later we went to play gigs in Argentina and Brazil.
Jan Erik: We are not professional musicians and as we get older it is quite natural that it gets more difficult to devote as much time to the music-making process as say, 7 years ago. When we moved down to Stockholm we rehearsed about once a week, but after a while we found that this was not enough if you are going to be creative and write new material. You don't have the continuity to develop a real group-vibe, and this is necessary if you want to be a real band. We work on a semi-professional level and as we also want to present the music to an audience there are a lot of other things that comes with the actual playing. We are performing, writing, arranging, producing, booking, promoting and distributing our releases and it all takes time. We would have wanted to release more records, but as long as we are not making our living from the music this is about as much as we have time and energy for. Still, judging by the climate and atmosphere in the band right now I believe that you won't have to wait for as long for the 4th album.
"From within" shows in my opinion an important development in the music of Anekdoten. While "Vemod" is very much in theKing Crimson vein, "Nucleus" being very heavy, in some opinions even too heavy, the current album puts much more emphasis in hypnotic, very dynamic song structures. How did it come to this musical development?
Nicklas: We had started to improvise a lot during rehearsals and because of this we got into more minimalistic and static music. Often the rehearsals ended with a raga for one hour. We also began to listen to a lot of krautrock, for example Can, Amon Düül II, and Neu, so I guess that had a big influence on our music. We wanted the new songs to be more dynamic, but not to have 23 parts in one minute as it is in some songs of "Nucleus". There is nothing more beautiful than an interesting rhythm played over and over again. Itīs like islamic art, it looks pretty simple, but if you look at it close it has very complicated patterns repeated infinitely. This was what we were thinking of when we wrote for example "The Sun Absolute".
Jan Erik: Yeah, we wanted to make music with a more distinctive groove and make a record that was more hypnotic and flowing than what had been the case in the past. Many people have said that "From Within" has a sound more similar to "Vemod" than "Nucleus". It was deliberate, because we had found that the songs from "Vemod" generally worked better on stage than the ones from "Nucleus". The songs on "Nucleus" are so demanding, both to play and to listen to. Once you are starting to get into one part it's time to shift to another. As there was such a long space between the albums it also felt right to do a record where you can feel that there is a band playing, without many overdubs and more of a live feel. The only guest appearance on the album is the producer Simon Nordberg who played Hammond organ on one song. He almost felt like a band member during the recording, so "From Within" got to be very much a band album. I still feel that "Nucleus" can be a great record to listen to if I'm in the mood for it, but "From Within" somehow works in another way as well. It is not as harsh and demanding and instead sets you in a mood when you have pressed the play-button. It may not be as instantly gratifying as "Vemod" or as in-your-face as "Nucleus", but many of the people that I've been talking to has found it the most rewarding in the long run. I think it's nice that although the albums all have an Anekdoten-sound they are all quite different from one another.
I also found a slight change in your sound, playing less aggressive, giving instruments like Rhodes and Piano more room, the cello being more in the background, but playing the music more dynamic with more changes between loud and silent passages. What do you think about this?
Nicklas: Well, itīs difficult to be more aggressive than on "Nucleus", so we tried to explore other ways of playing. When you play very hard and aggressive there is often not space to do interesting instrumentations. There is just not any air left. We came to the conclusion that keyboards suited better on many songs better on the new album than cello. We also always wanted to use more Rhodes and piano. Itīs easier to be more dynamic with keyboards than with a cello in a rockband.
On "From within" Nicklas is taking also more and more the role of the lead singer, even though you are writing the lyrics. Did this happen just accidentally or how did this happen?
Jan Erik: Both Nicklas and I had been singing lead in the groups that had been preceeding Anekdoten. And when we started rehearsing the songs "Thoughts In Absence", "Where Solitude Remains" and "Sad Rain" Nicklas was actually singing them. But he felt that he had to divide his attention too much on stage when he was also singing. The music was more complex than what we'd done previously and playing keyboards was also new to him. It took a while to lure him out of the closet again, but in the closing stages of the preparations for "Nucleus" he agreed on doing some vocals on the title track and "Harvest". I now feel that we are in the position where you should be: the type of song determines who will sing. On "From Within" most of the songs suited Nicklas voice better than mine, so he got to sing more. At times I try to get Nicklas to write the lyrics and sometimes I succeed. He has written "Thoughts In Absence", "Sad Rain" and parts of "Here", but for the most part I am responsible for the words. I enjoy writing, so I am quite happy with that and Nicklas doesn't seem to mind singing them, so it works out fine.
Also the lyrics are full of different pictures and deep feelings. Can you tell me a little bit more about what the songs deal with on on "From within"?
Jan Erik: The problem with talking about music and lyrics is as soon as you do it you start to narrow it down. Someone might have interpreted it in ways that we haven't, and this might work just as well. After all, a lot of what you are saying when you try to analyze these kind of creative processes are reconstructions anyway. Anyway, here are some basic thoughts regarding the lyrics of "From Within":
FROM WITHIN: It's about the fences and walls that we erect between us. I think that the subject matter is very relevant in the current age, where most people in the Western world are getting more and more busy and are communicating through cellular phones and through the Internet instead of meeting each other in real life. We might live a very organized and comfortable life, but it still gets cold inside if we don't have the time or courage to let anyone get close to us.
KISS OF LIFE: The subject matter of the title track taken from another view. "Living is easy with eyes closed", as Lennon put it. The "I" in the song can see a door opening, but chooses to turn his back on it. He does his best to ignore the sense of doubt that he feels by doing so, but although the lyrics end in a minor key my thoughts was that the music that follows suggestes a more upbeat ending of the tale.
GROUNDBOUND: The lyrics that I am most happy with up to date. It's about the exciting, but frustrating, period when there is attraction between two people and everything is still possible because you are still in uncharted waters and anything can happen.
HOLE: Life is very much about making choices, and to not do anything is also a choice. In fact it's a choice that we too often make because it is the easiest one. But it's a dangerous path, because it gets more and more familiar as time goes by and life becomes more and more a routine.
SLOW FIRE: A song about the longing for love, the positive input that we all need. Sometimes we feed on it taking all we can take, but in the best of worlds it's a give and take.
FIREFLY: "Firefly" can be seen as the continuation of the "Groundbound" lyrics. In this song the "I" discovers that he has been climbing up the wrong tree and he has to find a way down again before he can find a new one to climb.
FOR SOMEONE: With the instrumental "The Sun Absolute" we head out into space, and it is followed by this little tune. Here, we are living in own small worlds, gazing out into space without seeing the person standing beside us.
Although I didn't think of the lyrics of "From Within" to be thematic there are certain subjects that turn up in many of the songs. In retrospect I can think of the "Vemod"-album to be about loss, "Nucleus" to be about fear and "From Within" to be about isolation. All three have elements of longing thrown in for good measure. Not the happiest of subject matters, but I think that writing about those things works as a kind of therapy. And there's always a human voice and some hope in there, so although the lyrics might sometimes be dark, they're not black.
Your album was released at the beginning of October. What were the reactions so far?
Nicklas: Both positive and negative.
Jan Erik: It is not possible to please everyone and of course there are people who prefer either "Vemod" or "Nucleus" to "From Within", but we have to follow our own instincts and many people agree with us and believe that we have improved through time.
Nicklas: I think it takes a while to get into the album. Some people i have talked to were dissapointed in the beginning because they had hoped that the album would be another "Nucleus" or "Vemod", but after a few more listens they really got into it.
Jan Erik: It's a little bit difficult to judge from sales figures, because our records have continued to sell through time. Progressive rock is not a very time-critical market. One reason for this is that in many cases it takes quite a while for reviews and interviews to be published, because many of the publications that deals with this kind of music don't come out as often. We've sold approximately 6 500 copies of "From Within" so far and we believe that it will continue to sell for quite some time
You work very closely together with Landberk, two members even joined with them in Morte Macabre. Are there other activities from Anekdoten and Landberk planned for the future?
Nicklas: We have been talking about recording some more covers of movie themes (x-rated ones) which Stefan found. There is so much extremily good music in old underground movies from the 60's and 70's that has to be brought up in the light somehow, but we have no definitive plans for Morte Macabre at the moment.
The layout and artwork of all Anekdoten's album are every time very special and do give these album even more a touch as one piece of art. Is there a concept behind this work and what did you like to express this time, for the artwork is very spartanic, mostly being dominated by black and white?
Nicklas: We donīt have any concept behind the album sleeves. Teolinda who designs the sleeves show us some suggestions and we choose the things we like the most. On "Vemod" some people have tried to give us their intrepretations on the album sleeve. Some people think it has some Christian message in it, whereas others think we are sent from hell to spread the word of Satan.
Jan Erik: We all had a feeling that the "Nucleus" cover was too messy - it was difficult to read the lyrics to some of the songs and there were a lot of colours everywhere. It fitted the complex music on the record, but we felt that we wanted to do something more stripped down with "From Within". There is more space in the music on "From Within" so it was fitting with a more minimalistic approach. It was Anna Sofi that came up with the idea. It is actually a photo taken at a circus show of a man inside a giant baloon. It fits in very well with the lyric-themes on many of the songs.
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2000