You would have to be a brave, brave individual to tell me that "The Sham Mirrors" would not be featuring as one of the biggest contenders for album of the year, come December. After countless rescheduling of interview times, Garm and I finally hook up and have a little bit of a natter about everything Arcturus. Past, present: the whole kit and caboodle. Garm being the rather visionary fellow that he is also dropped a few hints about the forthcoming Ulver album, which I am sure will have a fair chance of rivaling "The Sham Mirrors", in terms of popularity. - Jack 'Odel'
Tell me about "The Sham Mirrors", what is the story behind the album? Does it follow any real concept, like maybe "La Masquerade Infernale"?
No, I wouldn't say that we do, but I would say that there are some common denominators perhaps in projected from the lyrics. So there is a sense of aesthetic that is more Arcturus than some other stuff, you know? But there is no real story line, so I wouldn't say that it is a concept album.
Does it feel good to be doing the whole releasing of a new album thing? (Aside from the countless interviews)
Yeah, it feels cool. But I think I am pretty accustomed to releasing music now. I guess the most rewarding aspect of it "The Sham Mirrors" now is the response, which has been killer all along the line. So that feels good taking in the fact that Arcturus is a hard band to work with. A hard band to bring anything to closure with, you know? In that sense it is very rewarding.
"The Sham Mirrors" certainly is ripe with a more 'industrial' edge to it than the last two albums, which seem to be more classical in nature. Was this intentional in the song-writing process? Maybe to make it a more contemporary album?
No, I wouldn't say it was more contemporary than the last one.
I mean in the sense of the classically tinged features of the last one...
I'm not sure I agree on that, I mean, I guess it is pretty subjective. The platform and the fundamental compositions are still the same and Steinar Sverd Johnsen who is writing the stuff is only into classical music. With the start of any Arcturus project there is still going to be classical music, but when he (Steinar Sverd Johnsen) hands over his compositions for us other guys to fuck with [laughs] that is when all the other eclectic shit comes in, you know?
"La Masquerade Infernale" was recorded in 1997 and it has been a 5-year gap since the last recording. Is it hard recording and piecing together an album together after such a long time?
No.
No?
Nah, not really, it's pretty much there, you know? We are all kind of having a hard time working together. We differ so much in personal opinion, so essentially there is so much more quarreling in this band Arcturus than creative shit, you know? Or so it seems sometimes, so that is why it is always going to be hard working and making music with Arcturus, but you always have in the back of your mind with Arcturus that it is going to be good. Something good is going to come from all that quarreling internally.
...So it does hinder the recording process with all you guys having such a clash of ideals and opinions? You were just saying that you quarrel...
Well, it doesn't hinder us because we have made the decision to actually make another record, we obviously knew we had to do it. But it obviously does slow down the process, hence the 2 years for the actually recordings. So it definitely slows it down, but I guess that is not necessarily a bad thing. As I said before good things can come from strong individuals not necessarily being able to agree on anything, so it is a good kind of clash really.
I didn't get to see a copy of the lyrics for "The Sham Mirrors", could you please give me an idea to what some of the concepts in "The Sham Mirrors", I can't really make head nor tail of them...
[thinks] It's a sort of an approach to some backward land, some paranoid state of oblivion, basically. It's ambiguous as well, it has got to do with escaping from the confines of people, space and time and stuff like that. But it is not necessarily a positive of reflection of that, but it is just as well a reflection of some kind of fate vibe to it. It is just as about the horror as the joy of being far out, I guess.
I have heard many a rumor that "The Sham Mirrors" will be the last Arcturus album. Any fact in this statement?
Your guess is as good as mine. It is impossible to say. It might be, and we did have that thought in the back of our collective minds, "This is perhaps the last record, so we better make it a good one", you know?
Yeah sure, if you don't have any fuel left in the tank, you are not going to release an album for the sake of releasing one...
No, I mean we might in five years time... ten years time decide to get together again [laughs]. But we all have stuff to do on the side, that is one of the things with Arcturus, we don't strive for a continuance of any specific ideas or following up anything with the illusion of rock stardom or anything of that nature. And I guess the result of that is a feeling of honesty.
So there is no possibility that Arcturus will ever become a 'regular' band? Doing tours and stuff?
No, I don't see that happening.
Nope?
Nope, sorry.
Do you miss working in Borknagar?
No, not really.
You don't follow the progress of Borknagar much?
Well I have heard it. I've not been overly impressed. I mean it has become a good band, but the reason why I quit in the first place is because I didn't really see it going anywhere... anywhere hugely inspiring. It's good, but in my opinion it's not really [pauses]... special.
Arcturus is one of your last remaining links to the metal world now. I mean Ulver is pretty much unequivocally non-metal as of recent. Would that be a fair statement to make?
Yeah, yeah definitely a fair statement to make. No doubt, I'm pretty isolated from that scene, my interests lie elsewhere as well. I don't kind of feel I'm too much present in that scene, now.
You just can't get into metal?
No, not really. But occasionally, you know? There might be some album that comes out and rocks my world for a short while. But generally speaking I tend to be inspired and fascinated by a lot of other stuff. I'm not excluding it completely, it's part of my past, and whenever something good comes my way that's cool, you know? I don't really think in terms of metal or this or that, but it has some substance or something inspiring about it, well then its cool.
So you're not interesting in any other genres or crap like that?
No, I'm not really into that.
Why are you not into the metal scene?
I'm not sure I can answer it. I don't have anything specific, but it has to do with taste and personal interest. For me the world is a veritable source of inspiration. It's not reflecting me to a large extent anymore and a lot of the metal music is to me very angry and very rebellious. To me it sometimes feels very cheap. I mean, rebellion and provocation is pretty easy to manufacture and I feel I am beyond that point of pure rebellion. I try to create something to put where other people try to tear down.
You want to be creative, where as metal is being destructive?
I guess [laughs]. Some people might say that what we do is very self-destructive and pessimistic and nihilistic and whatever.
Now, Arcturus is comprised of some pretty big names in the musical world. Sometimes big-gun musicians when they form a band, end up trying to outdo each other in terms of playing ability. Why doesn't Arcturus suffer from that pitfall?
[Laughs] Actually I have never thought about that. But to some extent it actually does happen. Everyone does try to outshine each other simultaneously. That is the way of Arcturus, it is a pretty excessive band and in comparison to some of the other stuff I do, which is sort of stripped down and more subtle in a way. It's very all in your face at the same time, sort of thing. But I think it works well, so I don't feel it's a problem.
Can I ask why you didn't really opt to do any screaming vocals in "The Sham Mirrors", with Ihsahn taking care of those duties in the 'Radical Cut'?
[thinks] Ummm...
You done with the screams and don't want to go there?
Yeah, I'm kind of through with it. It doesn't fit well with my personality. So it has got more to do with that than not being able to do it. I mean I could have done it, if I wanted to do it, but it doesn't feel very natural for me anymore.
Why did you recruit Ihsahn for work on "The Sham Mirrors"? There are a whole host of talented screaming musicians in Norway, or is there just something particular about his brand of venomous vocals?
Firstly, because Steinar Sverd Johnsen asked me to specifically scream in an Emperor like manner on the record, and I was like "No way, I'm not doing that, but lets just call up Ihsahn". That is the second reason, he is one of the few folks from my time in the scene who I am still in regular touch with. It felt natural to call him up. He has a kind of harsh voice that is different from a lot of the other vocalists in the same format; he has a strong signature.
Are you proud of "The Sham Mirrors"?
[thinks]...Hmmm...Yeah. But it is always going to be a failure as a pose to other stuff compared to other people or musicians who outshine our abilities.
What do you mean by it's always going to be a failure?
Everything is a failure. I mean...
...That is a pretty pessimistic way of looking at things don't you think?
Yeah, but that is the way things are, for me anyway. I mean everything is relative, and the consequence of everything being relative, everything is going to be failure compared to something else, or considering there might go a couple of years down the line you may have just changed your own personal outlooks radically, you know? So everything is going to be a failure in some sense or another...
But it is going to be successful as well, surely it must be?
Well of course, but you have to permit failure to avoid even more failure. It is kind of a motto of mine. Permitting error to make less error.
Does "The Sham Mirrors" rate highly for you, say in comparison to Ulver's latest?
Yeah, I think it does. It is an all-together different format and has a different kind of vibe to it. I mean it is kind of pointless for me to set one above another, because it kind of represents different kinds of my creativity, so I don't relate to it that way.
Do you have anything big coming up in the near future? Planning to do a new record for Ulver?
Yeah, starting that now. And we have some film music that we have done for a Swedish film and just the other day we had a Norwegian film, which wanted us to make the soundtrack. I don't know if we will have enough time, but there will definitely be a lot going on.
A busy man then?
Definitely, definitely, trying to survive in the storm of things.
With the new Ulver album you are working on, is it going to be a continuance of the "Perdition City" theme?
Kind of, it is going to be an enhancement upon the things we attempted or touched upon with that record.
Building upon some parts of "Perdition City" and then expand into other areas I guess?
Yeah, totally. Yeah some of the aspects are certainly going to be there, you know? However, I do see some of the attributes to be a bit more noisy, not going to be generally as calm as "Perdition City", that is about all I can say at this point... It is going to be a bit more dynamic I think.
Alright, now I heard a rumor that you are going to rerecord one of your earlier Ulver albums, is that right?
Yeah. We're going to make an ambient version of the Wolf Album "Nattens Madrigal".
Sounds good. Ok, that is about all I have for you. Thank you very much.
Not a problem, I hope you managed to get something out of it.
Yeah I should do so, once everything is typed up.
Ok no problem, have a good evening.
Yeah, you too. Thanks mate.