Hey! Efterklang
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.
You’ve played Manchester before in less gothic times. How do you feel about your experiences here?
We have very fond memories of our concert at the Roadhouse. I think it was in 2007? That was just a superb night! We took a photo of the audience and realised afterwards that 90% of the people there were men:
Afterwards we stayed at Bernie’s house with Akron/Family and jammed and enjoyed life and Bernie’s chilli!
Let’s get on to your music. How would you describe it to the un-informed?
For the last couple of months we have told people that the music is a sort of orchestrated and experimenting pop music. That can mean a lot of things I know, but I think it is best to just be open-minded and come to our show out of curiosity. Curiosity is a nice thing in humans.
‘Cinematic’ is a word many would apply to your music – and you have previously scored an animation feature by Anders Morgenthaler. Are there any plans to score a feature film?
There are no current plans, but we would love to do more of this kind of work. It is usually Mads and Casper who do these projects. They also scored two theatre plays last year.
You’re about to release a CD and a DVD of your performance with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Tell us about how this collaboration came about.
To many people it is a surprise that the orchestra actually contacted us! Their producer liked our Parades album and it was also his idea to play the entire album from start to finish! I think we planned the concert over a period of 10 months, and afterwards we spend months and months of finishing the audio and film. I think this has to be our biggest project yet.
Was it everything you’d hoped for?
it was actually. The feeling of being part of that 50-piece orchestra playing your own music was incredibly uplifting!
In the video for Caravan you are all wearing strange conical hats. Why is that?
If you take a closer look at the film, you will see that the background is full of pointy mountain formations in various forms and colours. The hats are a reflection of these mountains. The idea was that we were playing in a weird and secret cave.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
If I could have been a part of Paul Simon’s Graceland recordings then I would be the happiest person on earth! Maybe I should convince the others that we should travel to Africa and make a record with some incredible local musicians and Paul Simon can produce the whole thing?
I actually think we would choose some film directors – maybe Lars von Trier! Or maybe we should just make a single starring Beyonce.
You’ve just moved to 4AD. How does it feel to be moving to such a respected record label, and what do you hope to get out of it?
It feels nice and strong to become a part of their history and bands. I’m not sure we have fully understood yet how nice it is.
We have the same ambitions as always. We hope that more people will get to know and like us so that we can stay independent and stay creative.
Would you agree that you’ve also moved from an electronic sound to a more acoustic one? What changes do you think we will see in the future?
I would agree, but I think we did this in 2007 with the release of Parades. With the new and upcoming third album on 4AD I think maybe we will move closer to being a rock band with actual songs that people can sing along to.
Efterklang play Hey! Manchester’s Hey! Halloween at the Deaf Institute on Saturday 31st October.
Interview by Chris Gilliver
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Tags:
efterklang • halloween • the deaf institute
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