Last autumn the European
psychedelic music scene became highly attentive to the new album of
Sweden´s “The Movements”, called “Like Elephants 1”. It´s a
wonderful homage to the music of the sixties, but it sounds also very
fresh, cool and psychedelic.
We got the chance to talk
with the band about their music, so say HEY to “The Movements”:
Hey
guy´s, great to have you here for an interview. First of all,
congratulations for creating such a great album. Do you think it is
your best, yet?
Thanks! Ever since we
decided to do this album the intention was to do an album that was
way much better than anything we recorded before. For some years we
were very restrictive to do tours, so we could focus on songwriting.
When we started to record the album we had to work very hard to get
the sound we wanted and when we finally found it we were so into this
progress that we just kept on going and made two albums instead of
one. We started to record these albums in 2010 and then we worked
ourselves through it in various sessions. Everyone in the band makes
songs and we have become much particular in choosing the material to
work with. That´s why these two new albums are superior to our old
ones, the songwriting is much more solid and the composing of the
album is much more carefully planned. We have worked a lot harder
with our lyrics as well. During the years we also learned a lot
about recording and producing so for the first time we really made
the album(s) that we intended to do.
The reactions to your
album are fantastic, all over Europe. Many print media have
discovered your band after the release of “Like Elephants 1”. Did
you expect such a big reaction?
Well... We really like
the album ourselves and have never doubted that it's a good one. But
on the other hand: to hear and read nice words about something you
spent hours, money and energy on making is something you want but
never can expect. We're happy that people like it, what more can I
say?
The first songs are
floating into each other and it seems like the band is totally under
stream and passion to play. Is there a special meaning why the songs
are connected?
We have worked a lot at
the flow of the music through the albums. Everything floats together,
as you hopefully have noticed. The important thing for us is that
every song fits in a good context with the other songs on each album.
It was important for us to create strong albums and not just
compilations of songs, and that the albums would to create a whole, a
kind of continuity, together. But the challenge was also to make
songs that could stand on their own as well. We tried various order
of songs but at one point or another, the albums created themselves
you could say.
Sweden seems to be an
unbelievable fountain of great rock music, especially for retro
stuff. This is completely different for example to Norway, as the
guys from Lonely Kamel once told us. What do you thing, what could be
the reason for that?
I have hard to believe
that it's something in our water or school system that make great
rock bands. Or the politics for that matter. One of the reasons might
be that retro sounding bands get a better or second chance if they're
Swedish. The "Sweden-brand" gives bands wind under their
wings and that makes it easier to keep working, do shows abroad and
so forth. Bands from outside Sweden also play great music but maybe
they don't get the same attention right away if they're Norwegian,
Danish or German. It's a positive spiral for Swedish bands, starting
decades ago. That's my guess, anyway.
To clarify: I'm not
saying Swedish band get more attention than they should, I'm saying
people should pay more attention to what bands sound like than where
they come from, which unfortunately isn't always the case.
What where your most
important influences?
On these albums we were
influenced by elephants. I don´t know if you know this but elephants
have ways to communicate which goes beyond our understanding. They
can communicate with some kind of sixth sense. We humans don´t
really believe that we can do that but I think that music is exactly
that. A way to communicate with each other. Sometimes it works much
better than all other forms of communication and tells a lot more
about a person playing or a person listening. The albums are about
how we can sometimes glimpse that spiritual communication but we seem
to have a problem opening up fully to it. To get the whole picture
you can say. With these albums we hope to achieve some kind of deeper
understanding of who we are to the ones listening to the albums, if
they are interested.
We also have some
musical influences, for example these records:
Morgan Delt - Barbarian
Kings / Black Tuna Gang 7"
Entrance Band – Face
The Sun
The Pyramids – King
of kings
John Coltrane –
Interstellar Space
Gene Clark – No other
Bombino - Nomad
Bo Hansson -
El-Ahrairah (Music Influenced by Watership Down)
Do you listen to sixties
music yourself or do you prefer more the modern versions of
psychedelic rock, bands like Vibravoid for example?
I don´t know if I
would classify Vibravoid as a “modern band”, even if they are
from nowadays, he he! But they are a great band that we really like!!
For us it´s not
important if a band/record is new or old. We like to listen to good
music and then its unimportant if the recording are from 1929 or 2014
as long as it´s good.
As we said, German psych
fans have reacted very positive to The Elephant. Can we hope for some
live shows in Germany soon?
Yes, we are gonna do a
tour in Germany in February so check our calendar for when and where
in Germany we will be. You can expect us mainly performing songs from
these two album´s, we have so many songs now we like to perform so I
think it will be a very cool set this time.
What about Like Elephants
2, is it already written or are you going to create new songs and
compose some new stuff just in future?
It will be released 7th of
March 2014. Both of the records are recorded in same studio sessions
and have a similar sound and concept, but with different songs of
course. Some days ago I got the test press of “Like elephants 2”,
and it sounds terrific.
Thank you very much for
you being so kind to give us this interview. Like Elephants 1 was the
first time for me to get in contact to your music, but surely it will
not be the last. I´m looking forward to meet you on stage next time
and of course to Volume 2 of The Elephant!
Links:
by Michael
