Interview: Årabrot
People often ask, why do I have that big hat? Why do we dress in white? Why we have the cross? Why is it the right way up? One person was like, you Norwegians are supposed to be wrist-slitting blood-shedding metal people! What's wrong with you?!
Joe Norman spoke with Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park from Årabrot as they gear up for the release of their tenth album and their forthcoming European tour.
Zooming in from the beautiful, deconsecrated church that they call their studio and home, Kjetil and Karin were clearly enthused about the forthcoming release of Of Darkness and Light and excited about getting back on the road. The conversation took on board the recording process, literary influences, the meaning of rock-and-roll, and (almost) writing songs for Sebastian Bach. . .
Kjetil: This is the control room of the studio, and you can see out the window into the big church room. You can see the church organ. This is where we did the record with Alain [Johannes] last year.
E&D: And this is the first album you’ve recorded entirely in-church?
Kjetil: On the previous ones we went to Steve Albini’s studio in Chicago. Usually, we did the basic tracking somewhere else, and then went back home here to do vocals and overdubs. But this time around we felt confident enough to do it all here which was a big leap. It’s hard to match Steve Albini’s drum room! But it worked out really well. We are incredibly fortunate to have this church, because it’s very good for acoustics. The church people did really well 150 years ago when they built it!
E&D: Did that change the way you created the album?
Kjetil: Yes, there are several factors. It’s the first time that Karin was part of the whole process from very early on – with the songwriting and recording. It’s the first time Karin is playing synth bass rather than guitar bass. And Alain was a huge part of the whole thing – not just producing and recording but playing on it, working on the arrangements, even writing some tiny parts here and there. It felt like a trio – us three plus our drummer, Thomas, of course.
Karin: It was an intense period. Sometimes we’ve had people coming in and out of the studio, so it becomes a bit fragmented. But the three of us were here for a month, doing everything together, and that really made it a different thing.
E&D: How did you come to work with Alain on this one?
Kjetil: I had all of the demo songs ready, but we had a list of producers and I wasn’t really sure how to approach it. So I was just waiting for the right moment. And then we went to France for this collaboration project, and our friend mentioned Alain and I was just like, “Wait a minute!”. Our friend texted Alain and he replied right away saying, “Let’s do this”. That was in April and the session started in August. It was so quick! I had Alain on my list because of Mark Lanegan’s last album.
E&D: It certainly sounds amazing. Let’s go back to your comment about Karin playing synth bass. Tracks like ‘Madness’ are especially synth-driven. Did shifting instruments change the songwriting process?
Karin: Not necessarily the songwriting, but the arrangement has to be different. I’ve been playing the old songs, written on guitar bass, on synth bass. This was the first time I could make the bass mine. I had a lot of trust from Kjetil and Alain. There’s a lot more space for the synth this time.
E&D: Please can you tell us a bit about the cover of Of Darkness and Light?
Kjetil: The photographer is an old friend of ours, Paul Leachy, one of Norway’s best and biggest photographers. We had some specific ideas to match the thematics of the album and were walking around in Oslo last summer. There was loads of rain in the morning, but then it perfectly just stopped. You can see these beautiful dramatic, summer skies.
Karin: Paul had his camera specially built in the States to pull out certain colours so the greens become white. The symbol is the exact same cross that hangs on our church. This church is de-Christianized and we’re using that symbol in a new way.
Kjetil: It has the meaning of rock and roll! We use the Las Vegas version for our stage show.
E&D: Crosses have always been associated with rock-and-roll, since Black Sabbath. . .
Kjetil: Exactly. You have Sabbath who pulled out the crosses and then, later, the black metal people turned it upside down. And now we’re bringing it back, Las Vegas style, mixed with. . . Gothic Americana? Nordic Noir? People often ask, why do I have that big hat? Why do we dress in white? Why we have the cross? Why is it the right way up? One person was like, you Norwegians are supposed to be wrist-slitting blood-shedding metal people! What’s wrong with you?!
Karin: We’re using the things that we have around us. We live in a church, so the cross is on the cover. All what we do is not far from reality. Årabrot is a lifestyle for us. What you see on stage is an extension of ourselves.
Kjetil: Slightly bigger hat, you know? Putting the party hat on! But we don’t fuck around.
E&D: Let’s talk about the album title, Of Darkness and Light. It’s a reference to Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra – can you tell us how Nietzsche comes into it?
Kjetil: The record itself has nothing to do with Nietzsche at all, it was just a fitting title. I was processing a few personal matters when working on the demos. I got really ill about ten years ago and almost died. When I came out of that I felt that I had won the lottery. All of the cat’s lives were dead but I had one more chance. Then as things started becoming normal again, I realized there were certain issues I probably should have addressed before. And this became a very positive process. It’s the same with Zarathustra; he’s on his mountain, finding the full potential in himself. The album title is from that book; it’s fitting as a title because both have to do with this positive process. ‘Cathedral Light’ is about me, Karin, and our family. I don’t think I’ve found the full potential of myself yet but now I see the path.
E&D: How does the figure of Lucifer come into ‘Cathedral Light’? I love what you shout at the beginning of that song!
Kjetil: It comes from, Crowley: “Rumble, you rotten horse skin of a drum!” It’s from one of his billion books of poetry. It’s fun because the song starts with big drums! The song’s slightly tongue in cheek: Lucifer the bearer of light talking to his wife. It’s fitting for how we see ourselves on stage –
Karin: – not pretentious at all!
Kjetil: You need dualities – darkness and light – in rock-and-roll music. It’s always there: the danger and the fun.
Karin: Årabrot has to be dramatic!
E&D: The final track ‘Love Under Will’ refences Crowley the most explicitly.
Kjetil: That song came about a few years ago when we were asked to write songs for Sebastian Bach. We had no idea what he would want!
Karin: It’s not something we do a lot either, write songs for other people.
Kjetil: I thought of doing some Killing Joke-style rocking bangers, with some Crowley murder-ballad thematics. ‘You Cast long Shadows’ also came from that session. Both were immediately rejected!
E&D: I’m pleased they’re on your record! Did any other older songs make it onto ‘Of Darkness and Light’?
Kjetil: A few of them, like ‘Horrors of the Past, were written about twelve years ago. ‘Cathedral Light’ was brand new, written during the pandemic. It’s the first time we’re done it this way: usually all the songs are new. The pandemic gave us time to think about things. . .
Karin: . . .and we thought, it’s our tenth album, we’ve been around for twenty years, there’s something special going on now. We knew this was a special collection of songs and when Alain came on board it saved some of them.
Kjetil: ‘Skeletons’ was about 10 years old.
E&D: The album certainly flows really nicely. Did the fact that you were working on them with Karin, now, help to get them finished?
Kjetil: Yeah, absolutely. Now that the band is me and Karin, it has created new atmospherics, and sounds fresher to us. We’re really happy about this record and I think Alain was very happy about it, too. He said that the energy in the room was really great.
Karin: It was so easy to do – a constant flow. Every day we came into the studio and knew what we’re gonna do. I’ve never had a session like that.
E&D: That energy certainly comes across on the album. I’ll be seeing you guys in London later in the year, with Karin’s solo show. Do you often tour solo alongside Årabrot, or is this something you’re doing for the first time?
Karin: We were gonna go on tour like this before, but then Lockdown happened. I’m very glad we didn’t do it then because everything looks very different now. We’ve thought about it for a long time, and now’s the perfect moment!
E&D: Thanks so much for talking with me today. Do you have any final words for our readers?
Kjetil: Yeah, buy the album! Come and see us!
Karin: We’re going to have fun with it, that’s the most important thing!
Kjetil: We’ll be on top form!
Of Darkness and Light is released on October 13 2023 via Pelagic Records and can be pre-ordered HERE
