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Tape
Tape has redeemed my faith in Swedish music. Tomas Hallonsten and brothers Johan and Andreas Berthling bring together field recordings, various instruments, and technology to create what one could only describe as lush aural landscapes. Without resorting to the bubblegum antics of many of their fellow countrymen, they work their way quietly and slowly into your heart, and stick around a lot longer. They don't focus on hooks; they focus on emotion, so that the experience of listening to their music is not passive but interactive. On top of that, they're just really sweet guys. This interview was conducted via email with Johan and Andreas from May 25th through June 18th of 2004 by Eden Hemming Rose.
AB: For Johan and Tomas, it was an early decision in life, as they grew up taking musical classes from an early age; for Andreas, it's something he decided to work with after some years of art studies, making films and later on music for his films, and in the end there was only music for the sake of music.
Including field recordings wasn't such a conscious choice; it's the way the process goes of making a Tape recording. We do these decisions as the tracks take form and one of the elements we tend to use is just plain field recordings but might as well have been some other "instrument."
Of course, this isn’t anything new and we have been influenced by other artists in doing so.
JB: The first songs we did with Tape was just three instruments at the same time. Double bass/synthesizer/computer. More minimal and sparse. Since then we’ve just added. I think we’ll come back to that area sometime.
AB: The only difficult part is to bring the recording equipment wherever you go or you'll sure miss something interesting, but that is mostly the case since carrying the equipment at all occasions isn't possible. But you can always go back and try to find that sound again.
JB: It’s hard to point out any specific. I tend to like the ones with not that much information. They’re more usable in our music. It’s really hard to do these recordings. One that does it really well is Japanese artist Toshiya Tsunoda.
AB: We all work with music as a living. So no it doesn't interfere. Not with Tape all the time of course, but in other groups and settings ranging from improvised to rock bands.
JB: It’s what it’s built upon for us. Like putting a rather sweet melody against a backdrop of synthesizer static. Improvised parts leading into composed etc.
AB: Possibly, I'd like to think of it as music for imaginary films.
AB: Hopefully we’ve built a studio of our own and are busy making recordings and expanding our musical tastes.
AB: Yes, I believe that some day the barrier between technology and nature might be more "natural" to humans, in some way it already has, since it's now possible to create any sound from a single string of code or bit of information and make it sound as something made by nature, but still nature has the upper hand and displays a lot more diversity than what any man can create.
AB: personally (Andreas) I'd like to own a EMS Synthi AKS, hearing what a multitude of sound that piece of machinery can create I'm very interested in at least borrowing one for a while. I've seen Thomas Lehn perform on his and he uses the slot where you can put in external sounds by playing on the solders on the chip.
AB:
Andreas: Performs solo and with various improvisors.
Tomas: Plays a lot of instruments but his main instrument is trumpet. Improvise in different settings and plays with various Swedish pop/rock groups such as Pallin, Vega and Heikki.
Johan: plays guitar in Tape but his main instrument is double bass, also improvisor, plays with Free Jazz groups such as LSB, Sten Sandell Trio, Nacka Forum and also in some pop/rock groups.
JB: It’s weird. It’s the best and the worst. At times I think it can be hard for Tomas.
AB: Japan. The people there are fantastic and it seems like they're open to virtually any type of music and seems to appreciate what we're doing.
JB: Andreas standing up behind his laptop shouting to the audience to be quiet. It worked for five seconds. This was in Stockholm and things like these seem to happen only here.
AB: I really haven't got a clue about that, isn't the rest of the world mostly into making cheery pop? There’s a lot of good noncommercial Swedish music that not that many people abroad know of.
-- Eden Hemming Rose (4 July, 2005)
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