Firstly, Symbiosis is a phenomenal album! Can you explain what some of the main concepts are behind the album?
“Thank you for your kind words. For this album we didn’t actually want any strong theme or concepts to dictate the music in any way, not even the album name itself. We simply wanted to experiment and write music as freely as possible, without being bound too much to an overarching concept. Our original intention was to create a purely instrumental album – no lyrics, themes, concepts of any form – however this did change during the recording process when we decided to add lyrics on two songs – ‘Faceless’ and ‘Spheres’. Lyrics, and even the speech samples can be a very subjective thing, so we will let your own perception unravel the story encapsulated in these for now. It was almost half way through the recording process that we felt ’Symbiosis’ encompassed not only the emotion of the album, but also described the process in which we work – so consciously or unconsciously after that point, this symbiotic theme did start to blend and weave itself into the music somewhat. To us Symbiosis represented what we have been attempting to achieve over the past decade – a blend of light and dark, moments of stillness coupled with intense power, a blend of different ideas. Even though it is the album title, we feel its roots go much deeper.
Related: Nordic Giants – Symbiosis | Album Review
With each new Nordic Giants release, listeners gain a new perspective of the band as more stories, ideas and themes are woven into the band’s history and fabric. What are some of stories or music that helped inspire Symbiosis?
“Again, based on our first answer, we wanted the music to speak for itself, so without any lyrical content in-mind throughout a lot of the album process, instead of drawing from personal experience – these songs evolved naturally from within. Musicians, artists, inventors, anyone with the ability to tap into the true power of the right hemisphere of the brain are often referred to as channellers or conduits, drawing information from higher sources, possibly from the Quantum field that connects every living thing, possibly from even outside of our three dimensional realm completely – who knows! The mysteries of the mind, the brain, or the human heart (which has more neural pathways than the brain itself) is something for each of us to individually discover, but wherever these emotions, these notes or rhythms come from – we are just blessed we can transpose them into a medium that can be enjoyed by almost everyone – and music is that powerful weapon we choose.”
You have a natural ability to delve deep into the subconscious and shine a light on emotions that many of us didn’t know we had. How do you set about capturing these moments of raw and intense emotion?
“We understand that every person will receive the album in a completely different and unique way – that’s part of the challenge of writing music. As for the methodology behind capturing the emotion, I don’t think any artist could give you the exact formula. All we can do is build upon our level of musical knowledge, song writing, and production skills – and use these tools or gifts as best we can. Society used to describe this kind of process as having lofty thoughts or higher order thinking; now it’s described as being deep or having deep thoughts. No matter the subject – the deeper you can go inwards, the more self knowledge you will uncover and the deeper the emotions you will be able to bring to others through music or any other medium.”
“They both add such a unique flavour to any recording they have become our go to vocalists for any recordings.”
It is a rarity that a band can have such a command over the listeners emotions whilst giving them a space in the music to reflect in such a fast paced world. This connection you’ve established between artist and listener is deeply heartfelt. Is this a philosophy that you take into every writing session?
“Allowing space in the music, allowing it to breathe naturally to grow and evolve is something we have a very conscious awareness of when writing. To quote Mozart “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence in between.” As an artist develops, they really begin to understand what he was trying to convey in that quote. The other key is to find a balance between thinking and feeling – if you start to over think how a song can or should be made, you will block the process. Likewise only feel and just play what comes and the song could be a jumbled mess of ideas with no real structure. Balance is the key to everything and music is no different. A good balance is always something we strive for.”
With the previous two questions in mind, how do you go about creating the intricate, multi-layers and multi-timbral soundscapes once the initial idea or emotion for the song is figured out?
“The layering of the songs is actually something that comes very easy and fast for us. We are both multi-instruments so can think on multiple planes at once, that makes blending the instruments easier as we both have the knowledge of working with different instruments. Strings and synths are always a favourite of ours to add to the compositions, but we also add a lot of ambient noise in the form of bowed guitar and by adding multiple effects to the layers. It can be an experimental process of testing many different instruments and sounds, but this part can often be the most fun when in the studio.”
Your use of piano/synth melodies is incredible throughout the album, one song that stands out to me is ‘Anamorphia’. The piano melody continues to evolve throughout the song whilst the synths build continuously before the song’s climax, how do you weave these piano melodies and synth elements together so precise whilst making them flow so naturally?
“Generally a main riff or melody will come first, this can come from experimenting on different sections of the songs over and over. Sometimes these lines start off as something quite ambient before developing into something much bigger and more complex. Songwriting is a hard process to put into words, and there are so many different ways in which the melodies and rhythms come together. As for the synths, we’re very lucky to have access to some rare and wonderful vintage analogue synths, and this helped to add another dimension to the album and especially ‘Anamorphia. Put simply it is all about getting into the studio and immersing yourself in the mind expanding land of the synth, and disappearing down the rabbit hole!”
You’ve drafted in familiar faces Freyja and Alex Hedley on this album. With their haunting vocal styles over your ethereal compositions is a symbiotic relationship within itself. What do you enjoy most about working with them?
“Firstly they are both very talented musicians and also very easy to collaborate with. We have performed live together on multiple occasions, with both vocalists over the years, so they really understand what we are attempting to achieve with Nordic Giants. They both add such a unique flavour to any recording they have become our go to vocalists for any recordings. Alex has incredible power and range and is not afraid to be challenged lyrically. Freyja has the softness that can take you to distant lands and invoke all kinds of imagery, often adding light and space to an album when needed. Again we felt these two unique, but very different styles blended together perfectly on the album, in their own symbiotic way.”
“There is nothing new under the sun! Truth and knowledge has always existed, and will always exist.”
Much like your previous albums, Symbiosis has a deep complexity that you couldn’t possibly process or fully comprehend on a single listen through. However, what are some of the main things you want listeners to take away from the album?
“There is nothing in particular we want any listener of our music to take away. If they can find enjoyment even in one song then we are happy. If the album as a whole resonates with them, then even better. Obviously there is depth embedded into most albums of any genre, and not just in the music itself, but the production, the choice of instruments, the dynamics, the order of the songs, the lyrical topics, the track names, music videos etc.. Obviously for us we extend this even further with the accompanying visuals and the live experience as a whole. As every single person experiences such a wide spectrum of thoughts and emotions – we are blessed if even one person connects to our music on this deeper kind of level. Seeing and hearing people’s reactions, especially at a live performance, really does make all the hard work and effort worthwhile for us.”
The otherworldly and cinematic nature of the songs often provokes a deeply emotional and reflective response, even more so in a live environment, some describing it as being akin to a religious experience, Symbiosis captures this more than ever before. Coupled with the award winning films you set your music too, what can fans look forward to seeing on your upcoming UK tour?
Without giving too much away – This Tour will involve many songs from the new album and well as brand new accompanying visuals, plus a wide range of older songs, spanning the whole of our back catalogue. This is our small way of celebrating 10 years of Nordic Giants so we have attempted to make the show as encapsulating as possible.
From my own perspective, your music has a tie in with the environment and the nature of human existence as a whole, often with stark warnings about our relationship with the planet and the effects of global warming. Yet there is also something spiritual and animistic about your music, with animistic beliefs myself this is what draws me in, would you say that you have taken these ancient concepts of animism and reimagined them for a modern audience?
“As the old expression goes – there is nothing new under the sun! Truth and knowledge has always existed, and will always exist – it is our job to align our thoughts, emotions and actions with the truth. The truth is a constant line; it is our perception of the truth that wavers above and below this line. Knowledge has always been in-bedded into all art, whether consciously or unconsciously. It’s absorbed through every sense – sometimes visually, or through the use of symbols – which speak to the subconscious.It communicated through sacred geometry in artwork and even through mathematics – which is really what music is at its very core! These principles, at the Quantum level are embedded into every living thing, so what we often do is emphasising this simple truth in a subtle way.”
With this respect for nature and our often tentative place with the earth in this modern world demonstrated in your music, you often include clips from philosophical sources like Sacha Stone in ‘Dystopia’ from Amplify Human Vibration. These often have a unique perspective within themselves, do you use these samples to enlighten people to these philosophers’ work as well as aid in the music’s narrative?
“Each sample is chosen carefully, and usually for multiple reasons. The intent is to help people expand their minds in some small way. To make them think, make them question, possibly to inspire their own quest for knowledge. As for the voices we sample, we are not trying to promote them in any way, and often, as with many individuals we don’t have to agree with everything they say to use them. People tend to get fixated by who said it, how they said it, what clothes they were wearing when they said it etc…..forgetting the main point, which was the actual information itself. We need to bring back a love for knowledge, for the oral traditions passed down; this is our small way of encoding a message into an enjoyable medium – music!”
With your music being enigmatic, your anonymity only amplifies the magic and mystery surrounding you as a band. In a visual world, was this a conscious decision when the band started to add more emphasis to the messages in your music rather than your appearance?
“What’s more important is the message? The depth of the music? The emotion of a song? – or the look of an artist? In recent times, especially in the commercial arena, how someone looks has become more important than what they have to say. Attractive people with little to no depth have been shunned into the spotlight, whilst the true poets, the shamans, the rebels of this world are largely ignored by the masses. Having an element of mystery about us, gives people an opportunity to use their own imaginations – something quickly going out of fashion in modern times.”
Finally, I have loved every minute of Symbiosis, with my personal favourites being ‘Philosophy of Mind’, ‘Spheres’, Anamorphia’ and ‘Hjem’, which song on the album are you most proud of? and why?
“We attempt to make each song unique, each song sparks a different emotion, so it’s hard to pinpoint just one song. We can say that, ‘Spheres’ grew from just a single drum beat into a large and expansive song over the recording period, also ‘Faceless’ started purely as an instrumental before we decided to add vocals over the top, so the way these songs grew was something special to us. Every song on the album has a slightly different memory for us, and it’s probably the same for most people, your favourite tracks tend to change depending on your mood or time of day.”