ZapTown

In 2006, Norway showered North America with shoegaze mana by way of Serena Maneesh’s self-titled debut.   If you blinked, chances are you missed this glorious aural gem.  Those who heard it did their best to spread the gospel, and the converts saw the light.  Spawning two singles (“Drain Cosmetics” and “Sapphire Eyes”), the album was a critical success but failed to make the widespread impact it deserved.  With the upcoming release of the second album S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor and their recent signing with 4AD, that is all about to change.

From his secret headquarters in Oslo,  Emil Nikolaisen – the mastermind behind the SM magic, spared some time to answer some questions about SM, the Norway scene, the new album, and more.

Link: http://www.serena-maneesh.com/

Photo by Alex John Beck.

As Emil points out in the following interview, English is not his first language and as a result I found his answers to be as supersonically poetic as his music.

Having followed the band’s website for the last couple of years, I get the impression that Norway has its own thriving indie music scene.  What can you tell those of us who have never been to Norway about the music/art scene found there?  Other than SM, are there any bands coming out of the Norway scene that listeners need to know about?

It’s crazy, ‘cause the so called “indie” bands around that I like here are so not “indie”.  I don’t know but so all over the place of pretty basic influences like the blackmetal-Stooges-ey Lydia Laska, grumpy noise-rockers Årabrot, disco- yuppy Lindstrøm, surf- horror- punkers Pirate Love, primal fire and brimstone overdriven simplicity with Happy Dagger, Øystein’s band Le Corbeau, Je Suis Animal, I was a King, some great metal like Obliteration and the new Aura Noir record is really great too.

Your Self-Titled debut CD was a tapestry of sonic bliss (and possibly a model for the entropic nature of the universe) with each song steadily building into a big bang before ultimately climaxing into itself.  How does SM achieve this feat, song after song?

Ha ha, you mean eventually swallowing our own tail?  Choking on it?

I guess it is temperament… a haunting desire to push the song, or yourself, off a cliff I guess.  Pop music can be such an intriguing phenomenon.  I’ve chosen this territory as framework to see how I get challenged by pop music with a slight avant undertone of craziness.

What is the songwriting process for SM (are these landscapes achieved via extended jam sessions, post-demo studio magic, or are they precisely calculated song-craft)?

My discipline in songwriting is pretty strict.   It’s important for me that I feel a strong sense of foundation and direction before starting dressing up the “song” somehow.

You can go anywhere from there, twist it, turn it, throw it through the washing machine,  the grinder, put it in the oven, flush it down the toilet, have your dog eat it and vomit it back at you…put it through your distillery.  I mean, experimentation in sound is obviously a big part, but without the song crafted as its own little creature it gets a little foggy when it comes to SM.

We clearly did lots of jamming with, and on, ourselves this time more than ever but even here there are clear features that tell the story of symphony or progression all the way.

What inspires SM to make such unique music?  God? Love? Sex? All of the above or none of the above?

ALL OF CREATION!

Much has been written about the rich SM sound, but little can be said about the lyrics.  SM use vocals similarly to bands such as My Bloody Valentine in that they serve more as an additional instrument layered into the mix as opposed to being the focal point.  What can you tell us about the meaning, if any, behind your lyrics?  Is there a unifying theme that you’d like your fans to understand while listening?

Lots of the words are written on a “notion”, starting with some small sparks of life and after a while it takes form…self- confrontational, often from the relationship perspective between the living, the divine, and such.

Words can and should be incredibly important.

But I see freedom in such, not a pressure to always lame it down in serious tone all the time.   It can be extremely sour, extremely elegant, just the sight of it sometimes, as well.   The sound of it, you know.   So many ways, and the fact that English is not our mother tongue makes us stupid enough to free one’s self to twist and turn things upside down too at times.

I do think a healthy portion of sarcasm frees me to portray myself in this sour light to express some kind of gratitude to the living, to my surroundings and people who know me and love me despite of my sometimes ridiculous ways.

The title of the new album, SM2: Abyss in B Minor, suggests we may be in for a darker experience this time around (hence “the abyss”).  What do you want fans to know about the new album that can’t be understood through listening with our own ears?

Here again some truth and some pure sour self-sarcasm, if I dare to admit, both in one little contradiction of a title.

It is way too much, yet still speaks of the album in many ways.  I always had a reverence for classical music and the profiles behind it so, I take my own little liberty in inheritance of statement, if I can humbly suggest.

It relates to the opening track too, which bands (especially in the 80s) used to either refer to a song title as title for the album or even some had a straight reference to the group’s name in some titles.  That’s how I grew up as a kid and always thought it was exciting.  But this is as close as SM could get to that 80s thing.  It refers to the abyss, and it suggests something more specific too, of a theme, if you know what I mean.   There is so much in there.  Also, on a 10th pure musical note if you read a little into the key of b minor historical thread…check what key… I have gone way too specific already…

How has the band evolved between the first album and the new release, SM2: Abyss in B Minor?

You know the band is one thing live and another in the studio.  The recording process has a bumpy, sometimes improvised road as we go, and who contributes always is directed by the idea and the script itself.   However, during the process of making this second one, some people got heavily involved and one of them became a permanent part of the band – Adne Meisfjord (also known as singer of 120 Days) to complete, in my opinion, the strongest lineup SM has ever had.

So, according to this current live lineup (Øystein, Adne, Tommy, Hilma,me), the band sounds both different live than on the record and as well very much developed from previous live lineups.

Speaking solely about the record, it is a natural but quite noticeable push further deeper into the substance of what we started initially… further out on dangerous limbs (hee-hee).  We tried to follow up ideas longer, refine them more and generally go more crazy with it.  We try to hold the excitement of a thought and follow it through further.  The pallet is much wider, combinations of contradictions still even new!  Epic cinematic black metal elements and my old love of bossanova.

We live in a free world of speech, I would still hope to believe…

S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor is set to hit our ears on March 23, 2010.