Chloe Bonfield

Pallers by Shauna McGowan.

The upcoming album from Swedish duo Pallers is a blissed out slice of wonder. The Sea of Memories opens with Another Heaven and indeed listening to this is a license to float away to another place, viagra buy where chilled out beats back dreamy vocals. Lush melodies remain integral even on mini tunes such as Tropical Fishbowl, nurse with pop music a key inspiration for the boys behind the sounds. Wicked, information pills all bleeps and glitches, soon morphs into a super danceable melody with guest female vocals. The Kiss is one of my favourite tracks, tribal beats heralding a story of love and yearning. But to be honest I love the album as a whole. Scandinavian Chillwave, you have me hooked. Let’s meet Henrik Mårtensson and Johan Angergård.

How did you first meet each other and what do you remember about that day?
Henrik: I was classmate of Karolina, Johan’s girlfriend at that time, this was a long time ago and I don’t have any specific memories from the first encounter. We shared the same taste in music but Johan had tons of records and I didn’t so I borrowed tapes from Karolina that Johan had recorded for her. Lots of Sarah Records stuff and Television Personalities on these tapes…

The Kiss

How have your locations over the past few years… across Sweden and the rest of Europe, Miami and South Africa… affected your approach to music making?
Henrik: It has probably inspired us a lot, both the fact that these places are very different and shape your thoughts and impressions alot and also the fact that it is possible to bring a computer and create music everywhere. It’s very comfortable doing music in a hotel room and not have to sit in a studio. After a mellow day in the sun it’s pretty difficult making uptempo breakcore or something like that so I guess the environment affects me.

Pallers by Chris R Wright.

Your music has been described as ‘shimmering‘ – how is this effect achieved with the use of instrumentation and has it be a conscious decision to achieve it and if so why?
Henrik: I dunno about the specific term ‘shimmering‘ but we try to make our rather monotone music come alive in different ways, for instance by adding sounds that slide in and out of focus. Or using way too many sounds at once. Personally I think the term shimmering is used as soon as there is some reverb and a stereo-delay or an echo involved.
Johan: I always use the word ‘three-dimensional‘ to describe our music. That’s where I’m aiming and that’s what effects the instrumentation I want to use. Most songs have ridiculously many channels and a large amount of effects to create a musical mystical world of it’s own where the sounds surround you and absorb you.

What inspires you? Are there key themes that you keep returning to in lyrics and if so what are they?
Henrik: Musicwise I get inspired by artists making music that takes me away in my mind and also makes my feet move. Not necessarily dance but to me it’s rather important that there is a nice rhythm. But mostly music doesn’t inspire me that much, I tend to think about it in a more technical way nowadays and that spoils alot of the fun. Nice sceneries and nice daylight inspires me though, the yellow evening light is one of my greatest loves.
Johan: Death and desolation are recurring themes. Death has been a fixation of mine since I was very young. I got rid of some of the less pleasant sides of it a couple of years ago through therapy, but the shadowy, desolate sensation of non-existance still seems to creep into the lyrics. And the music.

Which of you is the photographer and are you responsible for your press shots? How do you set these up?
Henrik: I am the photographer and responsible for those moody faces that represent Pallers. (see Henrik’s website here) We usually discuss what we want in terms of colors and light; then we take our shirts off and take turns pressing the button on the camera that we’ve put on a tripod.

What is your involvement in the world of pop? What do you like most about a great pop tune?
Johan: It’s where I live. I’ve always been fond of melancholia in music, anti-macho expressions and I’ve always loved a great pop melody. For a long time a great pop melody on it’s own could more or less do the trick for me, but now I tend to demand more and more. A great pop tune should be a world of it’s own.

Pallers by Chloe Bonfield.

How do you balance your other commitments with making music with Pallers? Is there ever any conflict and how do you resolve this?
Henrik: There’s a constant conflict for me since I feel a bit bad doing music when I should be working on pictures and also the other way around. But I know at the same time that there is the a reason I like doing both, if I only did music there would eventually be this pressure around it and then creating wouldn’t be as playful as it is now.
Johan: I haven’t really thought of it. Perhaps that means there hasn’t been any conflicts with other commitments?

Will we be able to see you in the UK anytime soon? What can we expect from a live show?
Johan: I don’t think we expect a live show at all. I think live shows are terribly overrated.

The Sea of Memories is out on September 28th 2011 on Labrador Records.

Pallers by Caroline Coates.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday September 2nd, 2011 12:32 pm

Categories ,Another Heaven, ,Caroline Coates, ,Chillwave, ,Chloe Bonfield, ,Chris R Wright, ,Duo, ,Henrik Martensson, ,interview, ,Johan Angergård, ,Labrador, ,Labrador Records, ,Melody, ,Pallers, ,photography, ,pop, ,Revier, ,Sarah Records, ,Scandinavian, ,Shauna McGowan, ,Swedish, ,Television Personalities, ,The Kiss, ,The Sea of Memories, ,Tropical Fishbowl, ,Wicked

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