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BACK
 PALE
FOREST – Dream-Like Atmospherics
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
NET-only
A lot of bands out there take a lot of pride in what they do musically.
And why not? Their music is an extension of themselves, a way of
expressing emotions, feelings and creativity. Norway’s Pale
Forest are extremely passionate about making sure the right sounds
and emotions are emitted from their music—case in point, the
beautiful passages found on their Listenable Records debut, Exit
Mould.
UNRESTRAINED! caught up with lead singer Kristin Fjellseth to chat
about the new album and just what makes up a Pale Forest record.
We begin.
"When we started the recording process with Exit Mould, we
had the songs we wanted to record and we had a pretty clear idea
about how it was going to sound," begins the singer. "We
had this wonderful relaxed yet intense atmosphere in the studio.
I can’t say that things changed much when we started recording,
but things did alter as we had worked on songs, making Exit Mould
even better than we thought it [would] turn out."
There seems to be a real dream-like feel to the music of Pale Forest.
Has that always been the case with the band’s material?
She answers, "I guess we have, from the very beginning of Pale
Forest, been conscious about our music and keeping it dream-like
as you have pointed out. I think that was one of the main reasons
we started to make music together. Our music isn’t always going
to be like this. We will try other sounds, but this whole dream-like
sound has become a very natural part of Pale Forest’s sound."
And the question I always ask musicians is cast out to Kristin to
answer: Would you have done anything different with the new album
now that you’ve heard the final version?
She remarks, "If we had the time and the money, I’m sure
there are a lot of things we would have done differently. I guess
it would be orgasmic to record Exit Mould in a Middle-Age cathedral
with a complete symphonic orchestra, but I think the challenge in
making music lies in the parts where you have to twist your mind
and find some other, more expansive and possible ways to express
yourself. That’s where you’ll find really creative music.
We just want to stay creative."
She continues, "I think that this is absolutely the best album
we’ve made, and I think that is the result of hard and intense
work."
A lot of people compare the work of Pale Forest to The Gathering.
How does Kristin and the rest of the band—rounded out by guitarists
Jarle Hagen and Tommy Jørgensen, keyboardist Eivind Brox,
drummer Bernhard and bassist Lars Magnus Jenssen—feel about
that?
"I think it is a great honour to be compared with The Gathering,"
she exclaims. "I think it is great because they have done so
many great things. They are one of the bands we used to listen to
when we started Pale Forest, but we are not interested in being
seen as The Gathering’s little brother. We are making an effort
to try and do our own thing and hopefully people will hear that
in our music."
Seeing that Pale Forest play pretty "listenable" music
and are now part of a roster that features some pretty intense bands
like Aborted, Theory In Practice and Deranged, do they feel any
pressure to compete? <br><br>
"I can’t say I feel any pressure from the other bands
on Listenable," the singer says with confidence. "We have
just got to do our own thing and trust that the music itself is
strong enough. We are not interested in being compared with those
other bands on Listenable. By being who we are, we actually get
the chance to be a little bit different, and that’s pretty
cool."
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