#årabrot speciale

[nofatclips]

Part II of Die Nibelungen by Årabrot, an excerpt from the soundtrack to Fritz Lang's legendary silent movie

[sinceileftyoublog]

Årabrot Interview: Speaking in Tongues

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On Norwegian Gothic, Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park preach the gospel of Årabrot. The Norwegian band’s 9th full-length is, according to the band, the logical culmination of the noise they’ve been peddling for almost two decades. Recorded and centered around the Swedish church where Nernes and Park live, Norwegian Gothic takes equal thematic influence and reference from Theodore Adorno as it does David Bowie, its aesthetic filled with psychedelic folk and ecstatic rock and roll. 

Just take a look at the two-part video series associated with the record, encompassing three songs. On “Kinks of the Heart”, Nernes, dressed in his suspenders and wide-brimmed hat, and Park, pregnant in a flowing white dress, come to a town with a bible-looking book with the band’s name printed on the cover. They quickly round up a few townsfolk and cause them to reflect and act on their innermost desires, from sexual promiscuity to cross-dressing, over crackly guitar riffs and hard-charging drums. Part II is the sharp dance-punk synth jam “Hailstones For Rain” and washy, saxophone-laden “The Moon is Dead”, where Årabrot and their newfound cabal go to a local church--in actuality, the church where Nernes and Park live--to speak in rock and roll tongues to enrapture the crowd and later celebrate the summer solstice in a haunted-looking mansion, Nernes and Park nude as other folks dance around them.

Årabrot have fully embraced the idea of Norwegian Gothic as a statement for a while. The record was written starting in 2017, a year before their last full-length, Who Do You Love, was released. (Earlier this year, they also released an EP from the Who Do You Love sessions.) It was eventually recorded with producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (who Nernes calls “Gomez”) in London last year right before lockdown. There, they tracked drums, bass, and guitar before returning to the church for Park’s synthesizers, Hammond organ, mellotron, vocals, and overdubs. So while the album also features a number of other collaborators, like Jaga Jazzist’s Lars Horntveth, the spookiness of the church contextualizes the drama of the record, from the Kyuss-like opening guitars of “Carnival of Love” to the strings of “The Rule of Silence” and theatrical vocals of “Feel It On”. There’s also a number of spoken interludes, namely “The Voice” and album closer “You’re Not That Special”, that act as not just breaks or a comedown but, as they were culled from real-life thought provoking conversations the band had with friends, gives the album some substantial meat to back its purported philosophical influence.

Årabrot are holding out hope for some festival dates, like ArcTanGent in the UK in August, though I get the sense that, for once, their live streams so far are expertly curated displays of both Norwegian Gothic and Norwegian Gothic. Watching them perform “Hallucinational” from their church, Park’s spiritual singing and organ playing centering the band as much as the skulls that encircle them, I feel like I’m watching a production rather than a live show, yet one distilled to its raw emotion, and not just because it’s acoustic. Dressed in the same outfits as the characters from the short film, I’m unsure what’s an act and what’s not. What could be more gothic?

A couple months ago, I spoke with Nernes over the phone about Norwegian Gothic, which is out this Friday via Pelagic Records. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: You say that Norwegian Gothic represents the culmination or combination of everything you’ve done so far. What about it makes it such a good summation of what you do as a band?

Kjetil Nernes: As a musician and an artist, you might say, I have a pretty specific idea of how I want things to sound and be. Usually, it’s really hard--it’s a goal you have far ahead in front of you, and you just aim to that goal. It’s really hard to get to that goal right away. It’s a process: You need to make a few albums, for example, to come closer to your main goal, and finally, it comes together. I felt like Norwegian Gothic was like that, for the past 10 years, or even for my whole career. We kind of reached that one goal we’ve had for a really long time. It has to do with songwriting, how it actually sounds, the lyrics, a number of factors. It’s also important to reach the next goal, too--it’s a never-ending process, in many ways. It doesn’t stop here.

SILY: What else makes Norwegian Gothic unique as compared to your other records?

KN: The fact that we brought in a producer for the first time made a big difference. We had Gomez. He made a big difference, for sure. Karin’s been a part of the band on and off for 10 years, but she was much more involved here, which made a big difference from the previous ones. When you’ve done as many albums as I’ve done and been involved in as many projects as I have, you get a little feeling for when things turn out slightly different from all the other times. I had that feeling with this one. I also had that feeling with The Gospel that was released some years ago.

SILY: The Gospel is my favorite record of yours, so it’s interesting to hear you compare it to this one...What about the song “Carnival of Love” made you want to open the album with it?

KN: That is an interesting question because me, Karin, and Gomez were debating back and forth about that for a long time. There were a number of different options. Maybe you agree with me: I feel that there a quite a few songs that could have opened the album. We could have chosen a faster and shorter song, and it would have been a little bit of a different vibe to the album. We had a friend who was involved at the time, and he really got a kick out of “Carnival of Love”, and that made us decide to open with it.

SILY: How do you generally approach sequencing, and was there a different way you approached it here?

KN: Usually, you get a feeling. Sometimes, the label or the management comes with a suggestion. They usually decide the singles--which songs to promote. When you pick out the singles, usually you put them very early on, especially these days, even though I personally prefer to put them somewhere else. Back in the day, if you look at David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, all of the hits end the album. Many of the bands in the 60′s did the same thing: The main single was very far out in the album. Nowadays, the attention span is maybe a bit different so they’re usually earlier on. From there, you just listen to the songs and get a feeling, but on this one, it was particularly hard. Doing The Gospel was incredibly easy. This one took days of back and forth, and we had a lot of different ways of approaching it.

SILY: There are a lot of cinematic aspects on this record, from the strings to the spoken word interludes. Do you think about your records in a cinematic sense?

KN: Maybe. I do see a lot of films and am inspired by films and thinking of an album as a way of traveling through something. That may be what you’re referring to, too. I enjoy albums, and I particularly love albums that make you feel like you’re on a journey. That’s very often my starting point for making albums.

SILY: As much genre territory as this album traverses, “Hailstones For Rain” is an aesthetic standout. Can you tell me about the arrangement and instrumentation of that song?

KN: It does stand out. The label saw it as a very psychedelic song. I didn’t think of it that way. It started with me writing this specific rhythm inspired by some of the stuff The Residents were doing in the late 70′s. They had these weird sort of synthesizer rhythms with basslines on top. It just developed when we played it a lot. Karin added the jazzy theme on top of it. Further on, Lars Horntveth from Jaga Jazzist is playing saxophone, and there are two synthesizers going, and later, Anders Møller is playing percussion on it. It just develops. It’s a rhythmical thing. It turned out pretty interesting, that track.

SILY: How did the interludes come about? Who’s speaking, and what’s the inspiration behind the words they’re saying?

KN: Me and Karin had finished a tour with Boris. We did a week of traveling around the UK and visiting friends two years ago. I was interviewing my friend, and it started out with me saying to him, “Why the hell do we do this?” I got some really good conversations out of it. The first one on the record is Karin before “Hallucinational”, talking about her experience before writing it. The second one is with the writer John Doran, the cofounder of The Quietus. The final one is Andrew Liles, who is part of Current 93 and Nurse With Wound. “You’re Not That Special”: That’s his words.

SILY: I really like the panning in the vocals on that last one. It’s a disorienting way to end the album...You mentioned the label thought “Hailstones For Rain” was psychedelic. For me, the true psychedelic song is “Deadlock”.

KN: Yes. Exactly. I would say the same. I agree--the label is German. [laughs] Germans usually have a different way of approaching things.

SILY: What’s the inspiration behind the album title?

KN: I have a good friend who used to be in Chicago; he used to work for Chicago Mastering [Service], Jason Ward. He sent me an email a few years ago where he described our music as Norwegian Gothic, so I wrote it down. Over the years, there have been a lot of questions like, “What is Årabrot? What is it all about?” I came to the conclusion when I started writing the songs for this album that [“Norwegian Gothic”] felt right describing these genres and as a title. He was also being tongue-in-cheek about [Grant Wood’s painting] American Gothic because we live in a church and kind of look like the people in the painting. I forgot to Google the title after we started the whole process of recording, and I discovered my friends in Ulver have a song called “Norwegian Gothic” and had released it as a single or an EP and have released t-shirts for it. I was like, “Oh no!” [laughs] I did talk to them, and they were totally fine with it. Maybe it’s a good reference point, too, Årabrot and Ulver.

SILY: What’s the story behind the album art?

KN: We did a live session in the church on the summer solstice--Midsommar. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the movie Midsommar.

SILY: I have.

KN: So you know it’s quite big in Sweden. It’s a special day in Scandinavia. The sun is out all day. In Norway, not so much, but in Sweden, it’s a big day, and they dance around the maypole, and there are all these parties going around. This year, we did a live stream, and because there were travel restrictions, we did this live acoustic set. By the end of the session, we did some photos, and literally, exactly on the time of the summer solstice at whatever time--2:00 in the morning or something--that photo was taken by this photographer on his iPhone. He was really tired and getting really grumpy and sour, and Karin asked, “Take one more photo!” We just stood there in that circle with the skulls and stuff. There was some magic to that moment, so he took the photo. Karin was also 6 months pregnant at the time, and you can see her holding her belly. 

SILY: Is there anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

KN: The last two Clipping. albums, the film Corpus Christi, and the book Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski. 

[gigsoupmusic]

Chaos Theory Festival complete line-up with Årabrot, Nøught and Undersmile

London-based independent promotion collective Chaos Theory who celebrate their 10th anniversary with Chaos Theory Festival on Saturday 29th February 2020 at The Dome and Boston Music Room have completed their impressive line-up.  Joining the likes of the already announced ZU, Teeth of The Sea, Vodun, VASA and Mammoth Weed Wizard are UK doomers Undersmile who will make their official comeback in 2020 and reunite at Chaos Theory Festival. Norwegian noise rock act Årabrot will perform 2 sets at the festival, one featuring music from 2018’s album ‘Who Do You Love’ and the 2nd from this year’s 'Die Nibelungen’ release, the soundtrack to Fritz Lang's legendary silent movie, which was originally performed and recorded live at the Tromsø international film fest in 2016.  Completing the line-up are instrumental outfitNøught, featuring members of Thurston Moore band, Gong, This Is Not This Heat and The Display Team, they fuse rock, jazz & the avant-garde. Towards Collapse's takeover afterparty which features U.S breakcore legend end.user have also completed their line-up adding, Shelley Parker, Ecstasphere &, Aphexia, Metalogue andForce Majeure. Chaos Theory Festival founder founder Kunal Singhal comments,'It's an honour to announce more bands and producers at 10 Years Of Chaos who have consistently blown my mind over the last decade. Nøught are notoriously busy with their many other projects, so it's a very special chance to see them together, as they prepare for the release of their first album in twenty years. I'm floored that Undersmile have chosen to reunite and to make their comeback show at the festival; they've been missed by a lot of people and we all look forward to their next big steps. I've seen Årabrot progress from tiny basement gigs, to touring with Mono and Jo Quail, to a huge show in the Barbican this year, so it's a privilege that they'll play two sets with the music from different periods of their back catalogue.Metalogue has made an appearance at several Chaos Theory events in the past, so it will be great to hear his newest post-industrial glitches and beats. The Towards Collapse lineup also features artists Shelley Parker and two projects by producer Ophelia Sullivan, Ecstasphere & Aphexia, as well as local producer Force Majeure. Along with end.user, this is going to be exactly the kind of mindbending danceable lineup that I secretly wish all club nights were like.We've got a generation of artists who've been able to listen to the most obscure music from around the world with a few clicks, and have been inspired to create new ideas, techniques and sounds. This day celebrates what we do at Chaos Theory, which is try to show you where to find them. It's for people who love going to gigs but want to experience something different.' Full line-up for Chaos Theory Festival 2020ZU (UK exclusive) Teeth Of The Sea Undersmile (comeback show) Årabrot (2 sets) Nøught  Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard Gold  Furia (Pl) Vodun (+ special guests) VASA (album launch) Memory Of Elephants Mai Mai Mai (AV show UK premiere) Ante Inferno Lush Worker (Mike Vest, BONG) David Terry (BONG) At its core Chaos Theory have worked with musicians of emerging and underground genres and across almost a decade have put on the likes of Darkher, Zu, Lingua Ignota, Black Peaks, Imperial Triumphant, Thumpermonkey, The Fierce and the Dead, Boss Keloid, Vodun, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Casual Nun, Mutiny on the Bounty, Nøught, Telepathy, Jo Quail and Khost.  Chaos Theory was started as a response to the pay-to-play environment founder Kunal Singhal discovered in London. Now almost ten years on, the Chaos Theory team are gearing up for their biggest ever event with 10 Years Of Chaos at The Dome and Boston Music Room. Tickets are on sale now. Towards Collapse will run the official festival afterparty takeover from 11pm to 3am in Boston Music Room.

Tickets are available now -  https://link.dice.fm/4zqRxRcd9V Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2027020767603675 http://chaostheorymusic.co.ukwww.facebook.com/ChaosTheoryLondon Read the full article

[arabrot]

Årabrot Speciale

Årabrot is a two-headed monster. The band has toured Norway, Europe and the States extensively for years. They have released 7 critically acclaimed albums and won Norwegian Grammy for Best Metal 2012. The  most recent full-length The Gospel was voted Album Of The Year 2016 by influential music site The Quietus.

Årabrot the rockband is without a doubt a well-known and established name, but another important component of the band – the arty and more experimental Årabrot Speciale – often goes unrecognized.

 Årabrot Speciale is Årabrot outside of the conventional structures of a basic rock’n’roll-band. Årabrot Speciale is the elemental force. Dark and hypnotizing. Atmospheric. It could be the soundtrack to a perfect suicide. Crushing, ugly, but at the same time majestic and surprisingly beautiful.

(photo by André Løyning)

The Årabrot Speciale main core consists of Årabrot frontman Kjetil Nernes on vocals, guitars and electronics and pop artist Karin Park on vocals, flute and synths. The duo have performed at Øya Festival 2012, Trondheim Documentary Film Festival 2016, Kongsberg Music Film Festival 2016, Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) 2010, 2013, 2016 and Haugesund International Film Festival 2016 (all Norway).

Årabrot Speciale presented live music to the screenings of director André Løyning’s documentary – Cocks And Crosses – The Music That Wouldn’t Die – at Norwegian theatres 2016, including the opening day of Norway’s biggest film festival the Haugesund International Film Festival.

Årabrot Speciale has performed live music to silent film classics such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Witchcraft Through The Ages (1922), Faust (1926) and an unofficial present-day world record of 5 hours (!) film music to the epic Die Nibelungen (1924) at the Silent Film Days, Verdensteateret Cinema in Tromsø, Norway, 2016.

The Årabrot Speciale-performances have included guests such as noise maestro Lasse Marhaug, sound artist Andrew Liles (Nurse With Wound/Current93) and jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg.

http://thequietus.com/articles/21574-arabot-speciale-watch

Årabrot documentary Cocks And Crosses: The Music That Wouldn't Die will be screened at Docnroll Music Doc Festival in London November 8th at the legendary The 100 Club. This is the international premiere of the film. The screening will be followed by a Årabrot Speciale performance by Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park with guests John Doran (The Quietus) and Andrew Liles (Current 93/Nurse With Wound). There will also be a q&a and dj-sets.

http://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/cocks-and-crosses-the-music-that-wouldnt-die-arabrot/

Årabrot Speciale live in Trondheim 2016: 

(photos by Thor Egil Leirtrø)

Check out Årabrot Speciale by Thor Egil Leirtrø here - 

https://thoregilphoto.com/2016/11/18/2016-11-18-arabrot-speciale-m-ola-kvernberg-dokkhuset/#jp-carousel-8818

[thoregil]

Jeg har ikke sett Årabrot så veldig mange ganger, men hver gang blir jeg overveldet over hvor bra de er. Det er ikke snakk om at de stiller opp og spiller, og så er det opp til publikum å like det eller ikke. De tar fullstendig over hele salen med en uimotståelig energi, og om du ikke tåler det så får du bare komme deg ut. Sist jeg så dem var det som Årabrot Speciale, dvs Kjetil Nernes og Karin Park – med stuntmusiker Ola Kvernberg som gjest. Denne gangen hadde de fått med seg Kristoffer Lo på siste sangen, og han løfta det hele til en infernalsk jam som tok det hinsides alt vi noengang har opplevd tidligere. Det var godt det var slutten på kvelden – å gå på en ny konsert etterpå ville ha vært helt meningsløst.

2018-02-02 Årabrot – Trondheim Calling, Olavshallen Lille sal Jeg har ikke sett Årabrot så veldig mange ganger, men hver gang blir jeg overveldet over hvor bra de er.