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Pär Boström is  a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman. He has been active since the early ’00s as Kammarheit , releasing his albums through Cyclic Law. Kammarheit is appearing at ETOR Fest in Athens, but do not expect us to reveal more about him in this foreword. Go ahead, and read what he has to say.

Imagine somebody reading about Kammarheit for the first time in this interview. What information could you give about your project to the starters?

Kammarheit was founded in early 2000 and has since then been a tool to deal with my insomnia and to adventure in my own mind. To observe an inner, otherly world remains the reason why I make this kind of music: to build places and visit them as often as possible.

Your 3rd difficult album ‘The Nest‘ offers a bit denser, more complex and compelling sound compared to your previous efforts. In what ways do you think your sound has progressed since your debut, back in 2003?

The first albums were more primitive in a way. I didn’t have much equipment or knowledge about equipment. I just knew I needed to create something that would help me explore the imaginary places that occupied my mind. The ideas are the same, but I guess the music has become more complex and often soothing over the years. I’ve always considered music to be such a small part of Kammarheit – it’s all about the places and the atmosphere. Music was simply the only art form available.

What kind of equipment, analog or digital, was used in the making of ‘The Nest‘?

I extracted pieces from unfinished songs that worked with the current theme, adding singing bowls, tape recordings and bowed string instruments played through effect pedals and processed digitally. I also used VST’s in Ableton Live and might have used my Korg ms-20 synthesizer too. I honestly don’t remember.

Are visuals a basic compound for your form of art?

Yes. A glimpse into the world I try to express. It doesn’t have to be much, just something for the listener to build upon. I want to take us to places. This is music for escapists after all.

If you lived in a warm and sunny country like Greece, do you think that you would still create dark ambient music?

Absolutely. Even if I find the climate of Sweden to be inspiring at times, I think the desire to explore inner worlds would remain the main goal with my music no matter where I lived. The music would always be about the stillness in the abandoned and the unexplored. I’m sure the massive deep halls or the imaginary cities would still haunt me in Greece.

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How do you choose the titles for your tracks? Any special connection between the song titles and the songs themselves?

I usually save the titles for after I’ve recorded the whole album and spent a lot of time with it to understand what the hell I have created. Then I struggle with the balance of how much of my vision I should share and how much I should leave to the imagination. I don’t want to interfere too much with the listener’s own worlds.

One of the most prolific Swedish directors of his time was Ingmar Bergman. Are you a fan of his movies?

Yes I am. The Swedish movies of today are nothing compared to what he was doing. We need someone like him today. I think ‘Nattvardsgästerna‘ (‘Winter Light’), the one about a priest in an existential crisis, is my favorite Ingmar Bergman movie.

Could you share some information about your other project Cities Last Broadcast?

A project initially intended as some kind of private archive of strange sounds heard at night when I was living on my own in a city for the first time. I couldn’t sleep and was listening to what sounded like large animals howling and distant low drones. It was a small city but the sounds kept me company. I later learned it was tractors scraping the snowy streets and large vehicles over bridges I had heard. I began to record all sorts of sounds the city made, and almost a decade later I had made an album based on those recordings. I wanted a project where the ghosts of people and cities could tell some form of an abstract story. The second album is almost completed.

Which Greek musicians, genre or non-genre are you aware of and you admire most?

At the moment I can only come up with Vangelis, Shibalba and Eleni Karaindrou. I really like some of the music she did for the movies by Theo Angelopoulos. I also listen to Greek Orthodox music, especially the Byzantine Choir, led by Costas Zorbas.

Did you expect fixing a live slot for ETOR Fest? Are you excited about this?

I’m very excited. The line-up is outstanding and I’m looking forward to visiting Greece for the first time.

Feel free to close this interview the way you like….

If you want to know more about Kammarheit I recommend the Facebook page. Thank you!

Christos Doukakis

ETOR Fest jingle by Kammarheit: