With Halloween, that most terrifying of holidays, looming on the horizon, Hey! Manchester will celebrate by hosting a bone-rattling night filled with short horror flicks and fancy dress. Efterklang will be providing a live theme tune. Scared? You probably shouldn’t be, because Efterklang are more beautiful (both physically and musically) than they are beastly. It will be up to us (and you!) to bring the fear and dread then – but for now we bring you an interview with Efterklang’s Rasmus Stolberg (third from the left) to whet your appetite.

You’re coming to Manchester on Halloween! Which horror character do you hope to see in the audience?

We have always been big fans of Arnold’s Terminator character – but I’m not sure he qualifies as horror. Maybe Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in their Antichrist roles?

And which tracks should be on our Halloween playlist?

I guess some of the later Scott Walker material would be quite effectful. In general I think industrial music is pretty scary – that and greatest hits by Smokie, which they always re-release in Denmark this time of year.

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In the winter of 2004 Brandon Bethancourt dropped out of art school in New Mexico and headed up to Alaska. Shielded from the elements by a tiny cabin, and from boredom by his laptop, he spent this period of isolation recording music. This experience propelled him on a quest to the Balkans, and more recently on to Berlin where he soaks up the local musical culture and conjures up songs that fuse orchestral elements with electronica. Hey! Manchester catches up with Brandon ahead of Alaska in Winter’s show on 22 October.

Let’s start with the name: did you go up to Alaska specifically to record music?

No, not at all. I didn’t plan to do any recordings while in Alaska, but after a while I just got the itch and managed to borrow enough stuff to get some recordings done.

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