What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
We were both professional musicians when we met: Charite had done a lot of song writing for the international market, and I was working as a producer and composer. We just immediately clicked when we first worked together, and gradually kept pushing each other musically as we both wanted to make these left field, artsy things, but while keeping the immediacy of pop melodies.
As for when we picked up music in the first place, Charite actually was signed by Universal music at the age of 14, while I originally wanted to become a graphic novelist, but found the same drive towards creation in music as in drawing.
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
“Got Me so Good” is the musical point where we realized that anything is possible in making music: We did this thing on the chorus where the only reference points for timing in the music occurs every 4th bar that made these pulsating waves and encapsulated some of the anticipation you can find in improvised music. With the vocals recorded in time it kinda existed in the space between pop and more challenging music, which we completely adored.
The video was shot and directed by Chris Helberg, known for his work for Norwegian artists like Pom Poko and Unge Ferrari.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
We are obsessed with everything Arca touches. We also love Kelela, Bjørk, FKA Twigs and Grimes. We reference a lot of old Weeknd stuff – like the trilogy album, ca. Yeezy-era Kanye and Tinashe.
We are both huge sci-fi nerds, and stuff like Blade Runner, Jodorowsky’s The Inkal, 2001, Solyaris – actually everything Kubrick and Tarkovsky, is just amazing. And of course Murakami where we stole the name Naoko.
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
We aim towards writing music that fuses electronic avantgarde and contemporary RnB – more catchy than most experimental music and more challenging than most pop music.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
Erlend: album: Arca – Xen, movie: Stalker – Tarkovsky, book: Dune – Frank Herbert
Charite: album: Grimes- Miss Anthropocene, movie: Interstellar – Christopher Nolan, book: Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
That’s hard!! but if we had to choose we’d say the studio. That’s where we get to create, experiment, dig into sounds and get lost in the process.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
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Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
This is like asking a parent what child it likes the most – we put vast amounts of time into carving a unique world for each of our songs, but if we had to answer it would be an upcoming track named “Are You Weary” about coming to grips with mortality.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
Our first EP will be out the 17th of april 2020, and we have another one scheduled for early autumn.
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…
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Photo credits: Nikol Nerec
Curated by: Christos Doukakis
Recommended listening:
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