Hej alla-
I’m still working on White Room–which had some really nice surprises that happened while recording it vocally. I pushed out a version of it last night that’s a little too jumpy, a little too short and the pieces are a little too fast. That’s annoying, but that also means that I have successfully demoed every single song on the record and am going to be heading into the mixing and editing stage before producing what will be my very first full-length record ever.
Historically, this is pretty cool. It’s been 6 (maybe 4?) years since I left Dumah. The situation then was weird and I’ve regretted it consistently since I did it. I always wished I could get that whole thing to do over again, but I never could. What we had was special and momentary–like they say about relationships, you can never redo that stuff, it either works or it doesn’t, but there are few second chances. Since then I’ve kicked song ideas around, kicked band names around (Af–which was my name in Dumah, Triumphant Call–a power metal band that never took off, Serpentine–I even have a logo for this one but it never stuck, Fanum–lots o’ Werewolf at that time, I think, and there were others), but nothing ever stuck. I never really put the effort I needed into starting another band since I was in school, moving regularly and so on.
Two years ago I began kicking another new concept around: Æthereal. This was a lot more my style than previous project ideas and I quickly came up with a concept that I wanted to use as the basis for my writing. I was able to consider everything I was writing as game, as opposed to separating things in my mind as “Æthereal material and non-Æthereal material.” At that point the record was to be called “Metamorphisis” and it was about a horrible transformation that a guy went through and his ensuing insanity. Due to some money, school and equipment issues Æthereal never formed as a real band, but the concept continued to swell in me. While the concept has changed some, it’s actually improved and it’s getting to the point where I think the story stands well on its own. It could be a comic book, a movie or a novel. Those are things I’m considering.
I finally made it to Sweden, where metal apparently flows from the ground like oil, and I’ve been nothing but inspired upon getting my guitar here. I began slowly at first, working on some side projects and other music that I’d had kicking around until the time was right and I began really pumping out the Æthereal material. About a month later, I’ve demoed 10 songs and I’m in the editing process right now. There will hopefully be final mixes available by the end of next week and a copy in the mail to the good folks at Black Goat Records who will be producing my first full length–a concept record at that.
I’ve always wanted to produce a concept album but I never thought it would be my first record. Many of the finest albums ever produced, in my opinion, are concept albums. Iron Maiden Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Pink Floyd - The Wall, Opeth - Ghost Reveries, Symphony X - V, Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth–the list is expansive and ever-growing and amazing. I hope that people can someday look at Premonitions and see it in the same kind of light.
I’m extremely excited. Finally, after all of this time I’ve got a piece that’s really pulling together and I couldn’t be happier. I feel that this material is strong, raw and at least mildly bold–while having a progressive edge to it that makes it interesting to listen to and helps me express the emotion of the concept. We’re coming up on an unequivocal success, even if this record sells 5 copies. I hope it produces more and I hope that I can get picked up by a label that will help me really produce the record that is etched onto the wall here. But the foot has dropped hard and this record is flowing like, well, the aforementioned “metal oil” that is only found in Scandinavia, apparently.
On another note, spring is here in Umeå. Finally, it has come. The Swedes, of course, don’t deal well with spring. They’re mild-mannered and tempered folk and when it gets above 50 degrees outside it’s just “too hot out there” according to Kim. Swedes also enjoy the sun more than any group of people I’ve ever met. It’s pretty cool, I say. These Swedes are a little insane about it.. they just sit around on their duffs out in the sun any chance they get. They grill out, they eat outside, the drink outside and party right outside my window–and the sunlight is even more exciting. On Valborgsafton (which you can read about here, it’s actually interesting–it’s basically a spring celebration) Kim and I went out to Nydalasjön and made a fire around 10. It looked like sun down and I didn’t think about how late it was until we were leaving and the trees were still silhouettes against a sunset–only it was midnight. The amount of sunlight is pretty amazing and exciting. I’m worried about
midsummer and how I’m going to sleep.. but we shall see.
We also spent Första Maj with Farmor (Ann-Marie) and Farfar (Ingemar) and it was really great. They made ribs and we burned a big fire in their backyard and had a good time. Kim and I inherited a mattress, some amazing drapes and had a wonderful time with them. Communication is still scary, but I think it’s getting better. Farfar doesn’t speak much English at all and my Swedish is only passable, so sometimes I have some pretty major issues communicating with him. Farmor likes to speak English and even though I can understand everything she insists on speaking English to me (though all the really difficult words revert to Swedish..). They’re very sweet 
and we had a really good time. It’s nice to have a great home-cooked meal and that happy family feeling sometimes when my family and grandparents are so far away.
School is scary and I don’t like to talk about it.
Anyway, it was great to see everyone on webcam for Grandma’s birthday and I hope to see you all again soon. Things have been hectic here with the transfer of stuff out of Kim’s apartment and trying to figure out what’s going on with staying here. However, we got the contract on this apartment extended until early July so that should be good–but I can’t even start working until after mid-June, so we’ll see what goes on with that. But life continues and it’s damn good, these days.
I’m thinking about and missing Madison and Wausau this time of year and I hope you’re all doing well.
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Now playing: Tori Amos - Ribbons Undone
via FoxyTunes
Tja! Vad gör du då? :p
Umeå is very, very far north. During the fall and winter, this depressing fact makes me very sad. The sun disappears and it becomes really hard to get out of bed, do things that one must do, and so forth. However, this time of year, as you can see from this picture, the sun never sets! Thus far I’ve not had troubles getting to sleep, though we’ll see what happens once midsummer hits.
Last.fm
