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Musical Soundscapes With EINAR SELVIK From WARDRUNA · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: M m.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: My name is Anna Salvic from the Norwegian music constellation
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  Speaker 3: called Voluno. Yeah. It's a musical project dedicated to uh
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  Speaker 3: uh yeah, creating creating music using a wide selection of
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  Speaker 3: of the oldest instruments we have from from predominantly the
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  Speaker 3: Nordic region. It's it's not recreating music from any specific
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  Speaker 3: time period. It's more about taking some something old and
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  Speaker 3: creating something new with it. We we are We just
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  Speaker 3: finished up in in the studio Hibernation with Yeah, finished
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  Speaker 3: finishing up our our sixth studio album entitled Meaning Sheep
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  Speaker 3: Bear and and it set for for release in in
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  Speaker 3: January next year, so basically when we're down under, which
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  Speaker 3: makes it also special to to to visit Australia for
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  Speaker 3: the first time.
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  Speaker 1: Very good min thanks for joining us this evening. It's
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  Speaker 1: a pleasure to speak with you.
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  Speaker 4: Likewise, sir as you Cybro will release your sixth studio
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  Speaker 4: album Better And on January the twenty four So I
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  Speaker 4: still a few months a while, Like, is the album
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  Speaker 4: actually been interested ready to go?
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  Speaker 1: Are you're still putting the finishing attaches to it?
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  Speaker 3: No? No, yeah, the album is finished, but you need
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  Speaker 3: these days especially you need quite a long time leading
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  Speaker 3: up to the album, basically just for production time. It's
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  Speaker 3: such a with a explosion of vinyl comeback basically into
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  Speaker 3: the music industry. It's such a long production time, so
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  Speaker 3: you need, yeah, for five months delivery time before you
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  Speaker 3: can actually release the album. So but that also gives
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  Speaker 3: you opportunity to lead up and drop singles and yeah,
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  Speaker 3: great about the album.
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  Speaker 1: This is a bit.
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  Speaker 4: More difficult for you to explain because you guys put
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  Speaker 4: so much into it.
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  Speaker 1: But tell us about the album from a musical point
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  Speaker 1: of view and what you've gone for with it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, well, it sort of follows the same creative concept
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  Speaker 3: as as all our music since since the very beginning.
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  Speaker 3: It is basically the theme that determine the musical needs.
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  Speaker 3: So it is the theme itself that Yeah, it sort
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  Speaker 3: of at least gives direction into what instruments I choose,
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  Speaker 3: what sounds, where I record, and so on. Some some
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  Speaker 3: recordings are the outside. But I would say the album
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  Speaker 3: is is. Of course it will be will feel and
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  Speaker 3: sound familiar to to those who are familiar with with
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  Speaker 3: our music. But of course I'm not the same person
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  Speaker 3: as I was twenty years ago when I started about
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  Speaker 3: so so of course this is I make music that
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  Speaker 3: I want to hear myself, So of course it's different
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  Speaker 3: things that moved me today, that moved me ten fifteen
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  Speaker 3: years ago, or five years ago or yesterday. You know,
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  Speaker 3: So it is it is, it will be familiar. But
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  Speaker 3: on the other hand, it is step step forward for sure.
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  Speaker 4: And you released him, which so why should that song
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  Speaker 4: to represent the album? I guess because the first single
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  Speaker 4: always gets the sign of.
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  Speaker 3: Well, actually it is the second single we we released.
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  Speaker 3: We released a single in in April called Hartan, which
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  Speaker 3: is also the opening track on on the on the
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  Speaker 3: album as well has to set the pace meaning hard.
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  Speaker 3: The title means heart, so so that sort of started
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  Speaker 3: out the album. But him and I don't know when
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  Speaker 3: we decided that should be the song to follow up
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  Speaker 3: this and to launch the album with. I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: It's it. It has It has a seriousness to it
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  Speaker 3: as well as it has almost like a hopeful feeling
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  Speaker 3: to it. It's very emotional with with all the all
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  Speaker 3: the all the voices, all the choir voices. It has
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  Speaker 3: an important message and and of course it's very related
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  Speaker 3: to two to the theme of the album. You know
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  Speaker 3: that the she bear and they in in in one
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  Speaker 3: of the aspects at least, the album sort of has
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  Speaker 3: a it's a ten ten song album, but six of
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  Speaker 3: the songs they they follow they are conceptually linked together
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  Speaker 3: very much and is basically uh in various interpretations of
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  Speaker 3: of the nature of the bear and him and data
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  Speaker 3: is one of those, right.
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  Speaker 4: And the base actually got pretty good cultural and historic
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  Speaker 4: relevance to you, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely? And and yeah, not only here, you know, when
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  Speaker 3: when you start digging into the history of this animal,
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  Speaker 3: you see that it's almost in all cultures where there
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  Speaker 3: is a bear, they have a very significant role, often
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  Speaker 3: being the teacher who taught us which plants we could
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  Speaker 3: eat and not eat. Back in the days, they are
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  Speaker 3: seen as the warden or the shepherds of the woodlands. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: they have a lot of myths and traditions linked to them,
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  Speaker 3: and how how to to relate to them even as
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  Speaker 3: a celestial being. That's also the thing you see in
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  Speaker 3: so many cultures, also in our cultures, and we still
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  Speaker 3: have star signs named after the bear in the Greek tradition,
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  Speaker 3: which is the one we tend to follow nowadays. And
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  Speaker 3: and that celestial being is of course what what gave
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  Speaker 3: Himan doctor its name as well, it means sky daughter cool.
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  Speaker 1: Your music we sort of touched on this before me.
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  Speaker 4: But your music utilizes instruments and beliefs from ancient Nordic times,
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  Speaker 4: but you also sort of blended with a modern days
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  Speaker 4: downscape and like actual recordings from from now. So is
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  Speaker 4: it difficult to bring those two worlds together musically.
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  Speaker 3: No, I feel they blend very well together. I think
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  Speaker 3: these old instruments they have are very They have a
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  Speaker 3: visual quality to them, which makes the which makes them
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  Speaker 3: if you treat them right, they fit very well into
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  Speaker 3: our cinematic modern sounds, gape and and of course, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I think that it's a very like inherent thing with
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  Speaker 3: with a lot of these instruments. They they blend and
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  Speaker 3: and work really well in a modern soundscape. And and
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  Speaker 3: for me, like it's never like I said initially, it's
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  Speaker 3: it has never been about trying to recreate the past
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  Speaker 3: in any way. On the other hand, it's it's of
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  Speaker 3: course important for me to know a lot about the
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  Speaker 3: history of of the Yeah, they had no musicological history
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  Speaker 3: about these instruments and tools and techniques, and so so
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  Speaker 3: that I stand on solid ground before I go into
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  Speaker 3: the creative processes using this. But for me, it's it's
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  Speaker 3: very much a contemporary thing. It's here and now, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that is that approach is what speaks to
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  Speaker 3: people as well why it speaks to people. Also regarding
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  Speaker 3: the themes we think about, you know, there are many
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  Speaker 3: things from the past that definitely belong in the past.
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  Speaker 3: But on the other hand, there are also a lot
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  Speaker 3: of things from these old traditions because they are born
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  Speaker 3: out of the same nature we still live in. That
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  Speaker 3: sort of makes them still relevant as well, just as
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  Speaker 3: relevant as they used to be. And with the modern
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  Speaker 3: day separation or void between our culture and nature, I
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  Speaker 3: think that's the thing that a lot of us feel
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  Speaker 3: very profoundly, and that gap. So I think our music
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  Speaker 3: is perhaps also a vessel for for connecting with those things.
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  Speaker 4: You're also going to be releasing the DVD and Blu
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  Speaker 4: ray Lie at the Acropolis at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Mate, Like that sounds like a bit of fun, Mate,
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  Speaker 1: tell us about that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, that was definitely a bit of fun.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. We've always we've always, since the very
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  Speaker 3: first live concert, it's been important for us to to
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  Speaker 3: choose places and spaces that somehow compliment the music, then
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  Speaker 3: you have the potential of creating like a positive synergy
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  Speaker 3: effect when you perform there. So so and that has
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  Speaker 3: of course allowed us to do to be able to
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  Speaker 3: play in some pretty special places around around the world,
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  Speaker 3: and of course the Acropolis, the Audion of Herods, because
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  Speaker 3: Amphitheater at the Acropolis, that's pretty high up on the
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  Speaker 3: on the list of places we wanted to to perform
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  Speaker 3: and it was such a long process also to make
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  Speaker 3: it happen, so yeah, it was it was a special
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  Speaker 3: thing to to become part of the history of that
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  Speaker 3: that place and and use the Amphitheater for what it
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  Speaker 3: was meant to be used for it's and also just
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  Speaker 3: just seeing the Amphitheater come to lie with with four
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  Speaker 3: and a half thousand people, and and the seating is
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  Speaker 3: very steep, so it's like when you walk on stage,
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  Speaker 3: it's like you walk on walk into a wall of people.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, it was a special night. And and of
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  Speaker 3: course it was also the the Autumn Equinox, which was
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  Speaker 3: a nice symbolic, yeah, way of ending the whole tour
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  Speaker 3: cycle basically before we went into into the studio.
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  Speaker 4: Speaking of touring, like you start a massive toward this month, mate,
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  Speaker 4: So that's sort of going to go for a little
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  Speaker 4: while and season in Australia and New Zealand in late January.
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  Speaker 4: So that's going to be the band's first ever time
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  Speaker 4: in Australia New Zealand mate.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, absolutely, it's always it's always very exciting and
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  Speaker 3: interesting to see how how the interaction with with the
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  Speaker 3: audience is when you visit new new places and and
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  Speaker 3: share these uh, these evenings together. Yeah, very we are
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  Speaker 3: all very very excited. I've been lucky enough to visit
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  Speaker 3: only briefly Australia, but I like twenty five years ago
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  Speaker 3: I spent quite a bit of time on New Zealand actually,
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  Speaker 3: so so I very much liked I like the feeling
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  Speaker 3: down under. So yeah, it's it's about time to go there.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm very happy for this opportunity to finally be
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  Speaker 3: able to do so.
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  Speaker 4: And so crowds over here have got no idea what
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  Speaker 4: to expect from you guys, So run through a typical
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  Speaker 4: Wadrina live show.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, what to expect? I don't know. It's it's well,
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  Speaker 3: it's not your typical rock concert, that's for sure. It
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  Speaker 3: has more more solemn ceremonial feel to it. Yeah, from
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  Speaker 3: beginning to end. It's it's more just letting the music speak. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: what we try to do is basically create the space
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  Speaker 3: where you can you can connect to to something that
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  Speaker 3: is bigger than yourself. Whether it's the music itself or
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  Speaker 3: or the thoughts and idea behind the music, doesn't really
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  Speaker 3: doesn't really matter. But I think for for for for
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  Speaker 3: most people these days, if you don't go to the
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  Speaker 3: mosque or the church or or these these religious gatherings,
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  Speaker 3: you don't get to to experience these solemn spaces, and
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  Speaker 3: and I guess that's what we're trying to create, but
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  Speaker 3: in a very neutral way where it's basically just yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's very undefined, it's very open, but the atmosphere of
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  Speaker 3: connecting to nature, since nature is basically what our music
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  Speaker 3: is about nature and our relation to it, it's a
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  Speaker 3: way of connecting to it in a different way. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: you're in for a ride.
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  Speaker 4: Ah, thanks very much for your tom and I might
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  Speaker 4: have been a pleasure speaking with you.
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  Speaker 1: The album beer La It's out January twenty fourth.
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  Speaker 4: Wadrina will be in Australia around the same time for
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  Speaker 4: shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and then one in Auckland.
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  Speaker 1: So check out the social, checkout the album and we'll
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  Speaker 1: see you next year.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, thanks thanks for having.
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  Speaker 5: Men Steeles School, make the.
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  Speaker 3: Rocks, all Ronletra.
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  Speaker 2: Hostaten side.
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  Speaker 6: Star Nack. Don't wear you, don't.
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  Speaker 2: Fool o.
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  Speaker 6: Fill School. That's on the caller. Don't not as my fad.
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  Speaker 3: S S
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  Speaker 6: School concern