Monday 6 August 2012

22 // Interview & Debut Album "Flux" Released Today...

Born from the ashes of Norweigan Grammy Award winning band Gåte, 22 is the new creative endeavour and brainchild of guitarist Magnus Børmark. After two highly successful E.Ps the group now release their long awaited debut album "Flux". 
Released today "Flux" is as captivating, experimental and as appealing as its predecessors.

 Est.1987 caught up with Magnus to chat recording, the pressure they put themselves under and hidden codes within the album!




“Flux”, your debut album, is out on August 6th. How are you feeling about the release? Excited? Nervous? Amongst a lot of great praise and amazing reviews, Andrew Groves from Arcane Roots said about you; “The most excited I’ve been about a band in a long time.” Do you feel under pressure after the acclaim that you’ve received so far?
We are very excited. After touring quite extensively last year it feels really, really good to finally release a full length album. External pressure is nothing compared to the pressure one can put oneself under, so we are done with the pressure part. We just want to share this music now with  anyone it might resonate with.

You embarked on a Pledge Music Project to raise the funds for the album; do you think that this is the way forward for bands to make a record?
It is definitely a new way of experimenting with the concept of exchanging money for music-related products. And it brings the fans closer to the band. Creatively, it is also very stimulating to use a concept such as Pledge Music Project, because you can muster up some really interesting products/services to sell to your fans, that both band and fan will appreciate.



I guess it is testament to your music and your fans that you reached more than the target goal of the Pledge Project?
That fills us with a warm fuzzy feeling of gratitude. We are so thankful for that.

You self-produced your EP “Plastik”; how was that experience of having control and how has that changed on the recording/producing of “Flux”?
I (Magnus) also produced "FLUX" as well, so it didn't change that much. What was different was that we had matured a bit, and that the songs had evolved. I just started producing 22 myself, because no one else could really understand what we were doing or trying to express. So, then it is better to just do it yourself, so that the vision is intact and conveyed through the final product.


You say that you make your music with hidden codes, patterns within patterns, so that listeners use their own creativity to enjoy the music; can you tell us a bit about how that works on “Flux”?
Haha, if I told you it wouldn't be so hidden, would it? As I see it, the experience of art has to be credited to the one who is experiencing it, because it is their emotions that they get in touch
with through the "consuming" of the art. What the artist must focus on, is creating art that is open and honest enough as to function as a proper environment for the aforementioned dynamic to take place. If you analyze 22-songs, you will always find several rhythmic patterns
meeting up and separating at different places. This goes for a lot of the tonal choices as well. This creates music that sounds different based on what pattern the listener chooses to place the most emphasis. This effect is most prevalent in the song "Flux".

You’re from Norway but you’ve played over in the UK; how does the scene vary and the shows that you play?
The audience in the UK is so dedicated! When they first latch on to you, you've got a friend. We've been slappin' fives a lot this past year. When we came to the UK, we had to strip things down a bit, show-wise, and that has really worked in our favour, drawing more attention to the actual music (though the live-shows tend to always go crazy.)

And finally, other than the album coming out what else do you have planned in the coming months?
We are doing shows in Norway, and working out a plan as to how we shall get to play all around Tellus [Earth] in the near future.



"Flux" is out now