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BACK
 SOLEFALD
– Peeking Through Conceptual Keyholes
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
NET-only
If Pills
Against the Ageless Ills, Solefald’s debut for Century
Media, is not one of the most fucked-up discs of the year, then
I don’t know what is. Oh, wait a second—I forgot about
Sigh’s Imaginary Sonicscape. That is pretty fucked up too.
Hmm…the two most fucked-up releases of the year are on Century
Media. How could this be?
"It is just the way things are. It is pretty cool that both
bands could put out great debut records for Century Media,"
starts Lazare, vocalist/synthesizers/drummer for the dynamic duo
of Solefald, down the line from Norway. "We are two totally
different bands from different parts of the world that are able
to produce some really unique records for music fans to buy.
"I think the reason why our music works, with all of the ideas
going on, is because we [the duo’s other half is vocalist/guitarist/bassist
Cornelius] don’t sit down and plan how things are going to
be," he explains. "We don’t try to make weird music.
We just sit down and create. We have no musical boundaries and we
make music the way we want to make music. We have never forced ourselves
to write a certain way. I know there are a lot of bands trying to
add sounds and different instruments into their music so they can
be ‘special.’ It doesn’t work most of the time because
you need a purpose in order to bring new ideas into a sound. We
do what we want to do because it is something we want, not to just
amaze people with a new sound or try something that’ll draw
attention.
"When we released Neonism a lot of people reacted to it and
told us how weird our music was. It was then I started to see just
how weird we really are musically," he laughs.
And the new album, do you consider it weird?
"I guess so. I think a lot of people who are familiar with
Solefald are saying that this record is a lot more straightforward
than our other works. They are saying there is more structure to
our sound now. For those fans who are experiencing us for the first
time, I am pretty sure they will think we are a weird band. I think
we found a nice balance with what we want to do musically with Pills
Against the Ageless Ills."
The conversation turns to the fact that Solefald are a bit more
in the spotlight nowadays, thanks in part to the duo signing to
a bigger label. About signing to Century Media, Lazare says, "I
have nothing bad to say about working with Avantgarde Music. They
did a great job with our two previous records—The Linear Scaffold
[1997] and Neonism [1999]—and it was just time to move on.
We wanted to get bigger distribution and to get the name out. Century
Media seemed like the right choice for us. We just wanted to reach
a wider audience. It is important for us to make our albums available
for our fans and it is good that they have promotional offices in
Europe, North America and South America, as well as several other
offices around the world. It is really nice to be on a bigger label
and reach more people."
Listening to Pills Against the Ageless Ills and reading the
lyrics and song titles, it is quite obvious there is a concept theme
running through the album. Lazare sums up the story line.
"We wanted to do a concept record so that we could challenge
the listeners with our music and lyrics," he admits. "I
think most people have this idea that metal fans are long-haired,
beer-drinking idiots, but we know that there is so much intelligence
within the business and with the fans when it comes to lyrics. We
wanted to give back something to the fans and give them credit for
being intelligent people.
"The concept is quite simple and quite complicated at the same
time," Lazare notes. "It is a story about two brothers:
one a pornographer (Cain), the other a philosopher (Fuck). Both
of these brothers represent a different side of humanity. The philosopher
is everything to do with thinking and reasoning, while the pornographer
represents everything having to do with the craving of human nature,
the animalistic side of mankind. And with these two brothers, we
see the world. We created two keyholes for you to look through,
offering up two different angles of looking at the world we live
in. We challenge the listeners to discover things through these
keyholes and try to see where they fit in. To find a connection
of sorts. That is the basic framework of what you have with Pills
Against the Ageless Ills. There are lots more concepts that come
out of other concepts, but that is a whole new thing for me to get
into. In other words, there is a lot more going on after you get
past the original frame of what we are doing here."
Was it difficult to break away for the normalcy of making a regular
record in a studio and focusing on a concept theme?
"Both Cornelius and I sat down before we started recording
this record and talked about how we should do this album. We decided
that we should make a concept album for both the lyrics and the
music. Cornelius is a writer who has had stuff published over here
through one of the largest book publishers, so he had an easy grasp
of making all of this turn into a concept theme. The story came
together quite easily."
And is the songwriting becoming easier as the years go on too? Do
you guys argue over ideas?
"Our songwriting really hasn’t changed much over the years.
Both Cornelius and I have a really good friendship and from that
the band has taken on a professional relationship as well. Of course
there are arguments in the studio when it comes to writing a song,
but that is expected when you are creating something with someone
else. The music of Solefald is a property of both of us, not just
property of one individual."
So I guess this fucked-up mess calling itself Pills Against the
Ageless Ills is both your doing then, eh?
"Yes. We are both guilty," he laughs. "We drag ideas
back and forth all of the time till we can decide what direction
or sound the music will go. There are quarrels, but as I said, that
is expected. So really, nothing has changed with us in regards to
songwriting, and that is a good thing because it keeps things moving
forward for the band."
He ends, "The only problem that we have faced in the last little
while is getting together. Cornelius has been living in Paris for
the last few years, while I still live in Norway. We have limited
time to get together and work on music, but have managed to get
this album assembled and out there. Distance may be an issue, but
creativity has never been a problem for us."
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