FINN ARILD

"Painting Melodies"

Interview with the Norwegian Singer/Songwriter/Multi-Instrumentalist Finn Arild

By Sergio Vilar

Hello Finn, thanks for taking the time to do this interview for Nucleus, I really enjoy your latest CD “Serendipity”, can you tell us a little something about the CD's title?
The term Serendipity describes the ability to encounter fortunate coincidences. A lot of fortunate coincidences happened that made me able to make the album, so it seemed appropriate to reflect that in the title. The term is originally from an old Persian tale of “The Three Princes of Serendip” (Now Sri Lanka).

What are your thoughts on this album now and any memories?
After always collaborating with other musicians, it was great for me to take the reins of my own production. After doing very much pop/rock I wanted to do more advanced stuff while keeping it available. Singable melodies has all was been important for me.

Could you give me a brief description of each song?
“Take Two and Call Me in the Morning”: Taking up healthcare this song is based on two different themes I had lying around for years.

“Love Me or Not”: This was co-written and recorded with Reidar Wiik over 10 years ago, but never released. The melody always haunted me so I decided to re-record it for “Serendipity”.

“Nightly Encounters”: I wrote this during an evening playing around with a new guitar effect I had. Maja Neraas did the excellent female vocals on this.

“Betting your Ass on a Donkey”: This started out as a title. We had a boss at my dayjob from Scotland, and she always came up with the strangest Scottish old "sayings". Things like "a fart in the fog". I started playing around with words and came up with the Ass/Donkey wording. Then all I had to do was to write a story around it.

“Riding the Nightmare”: This is about some recurring strange dreams I've had. The main theme started with a bass lick which I had been playing around with for a while.

“Lantern Waste”: All guitars and vocals here - no keyboards present. Lantern waste is a fictional place mentioned in the Narnia books which I grew up with.

“Name and the Dance of the Monopods”: This song is really about naming a song - a quirky idea I had. The theme is really, really old - so old I recorded it on an Amiga the first time.

“My One”: The lovesong on this album for my wife who has put up with me for over 17 years.

“Hide”: About how we all learn to hide our feelings.

“How You Die”: On this I try to point out that it's just as painful to lose your loved ones in "mundane" ways.

“Love or hate”: about a tragic killing in Norway where the perpetrator himself suffered psycically from a war in another country.

“Vultures of Culture”: They build you up and they break you down - the Vultures of Culture.

Lyrics on your album are very interesting. Where do you get your inspiration?
All around, really. Every single little thing in a day can be made a lyric. When I'm in a writing process I get especially observant of details and try to think new thoughts about old things.
Also, many times I co-write the lyrics with my wife Elin. She often has the ability to view issues from a different angle than I - which is very helpful.

What feelings or ideas want to express through the songs?
There's no hidden message or agenda, I guess I'm trying to share my view of the world. Sometimes it's just about humour or love too, of course - Let's face it: I'm in the entertainment business :-)

When you're recording, is the music written out ahead of time, or do you improvise in the studio, or is it some combination?
Most of the time the music is written ahead of time. I'm fortunate enough to have a decent home studio, so I actually record most of the music before we go into the studio and put the main vocals on them. Ideas come in the strangest places - when I'm riding my bicycle or taking a shower. Very often when I'm in bed and almost sleeping.

How would you describe exactly what you're aiming for with your music, in the long term?
I want to work with music. There will be more albums, but I've also now tried producing which I find very rewarding. In Norway it's almost impossible to live of selling albums alone - we're only 4.5 million people. I do hope to get a larger international audience and maybe do some touring through Europe - but that's still far off.

Which musicians have had the greatest influence to your work?
The old progrockers like Genesis and Yes definitively. I'm particularly fond of Steve Hackett's solo work. I also listen a lot to other styles of music and classical. To mention some: Supertramp, Suzanne Vega, Kate Bush, Sting, Level 42, Stravinsky... there's so many.

Do you have any side projects or participate in some other projects? If so, who are the musicians that you collaborate or collaborated with?
Right now I'm producing a Norwegian folk-artist: “Bonden” (Translates to “The Farmer”). We have a great lyric writer with us and the producer on “Serendipity”: Tor Øyvind Quille, Reidar Wiik and myself have split up the work of writing the songs. We expect to release the album this autumn.

What is your opinion of the music scene right now? What are your views about progressive scene and the music industry in general?
It's become so easy to make professional productions now. The good thing about this is that there's a lot of really interesting music out there.
The bad thing is that it is very hard to promote your own stuff - just because there's so much other stuff out there. There's a lot of interesting stuff happening on the progressive front, a favourite band of mine right now is the Danish Mew - they're really impressive.

I think we'll see more and more small labels eating of the majors share in the future - this is a good thing for diversity in music.

What music are you listening at the present time? Something new that can recommend us?
As I said, Mew is a band that I'm really impressed of. Other than that, I tend to listen to the old stuff I know. It's sad, but when you spend so much time making and playing music yourself, you listen less to other music. Also it has to really hit me in the face these days before I get exited about something new.

Finally, what's in the near future for Finn Arild?
My plans is to get the release out in Norway, do some shows and release “Bonden” of course. After that I have a classical piece I'm planning to work on in addition to my next album - of which several songs are already written.

Many thanks Finn and good luck and success with your music!
Thanks for having me :-) ...

www.finnarild.com 
 

Nucleus interview: 17/05/06