Your latest album, “It’s a Love Song” on Parabel label, showcases a diverse sonic landscape. Could you tell us about the inspiration behind this album and the themes you aimed to explore?
Jesper: It’s a love song is an album that is a tribute and a passion to a particular kind of music.It’s always such a joy when you find a like-minded person to share the love for a particular genre of music or sound, or an artist or a record. It’s a very rare and luxurious experience. Like many relationships, it’s about fighting for love.The music that you create with somebody else is not always easy to create. But if you can fight it out and be persistent something beautiful will come out on the other side.
Collaboration often brings out unique perspectives. How did working together on this album enhance your creative process, and what strengths did each of you bring to the table?
Jesper: When you spend the time in the studio with somebody and you don’t have to talk that much and still make great music. Then, you know you are on to something.
Nima: I think the strength came from us working together and you know, trying to sync our mindsets or our emotional state of mind. And then also, a lot of focusing on the instruments that we are going to use and work with. I think that also brought our focuses together and I think that it brought out the strength in both of us without knowing exactly beforehand what is the strength of what.
The production journey for an album can vary significantly. Could you walk us through the typical workflow or process you followed while creating “It’s a Love Song”?
Usually, we start by setting up a tempo and this has a practical reason, because everything that we create we record sound by sound. And therefore, we need to decide on the tempo from the start. So that kind of limits the scope of what can be done. And then it’s just a creative process from there, trying to find the right sound. Try it with some simple beats. And then trying to create a story with that sound only. Together with maybe a kick drum. And if the sound takes you somewhere then, you know, Your own to something. Then you can start to layer Other sounds on top of that, but you have to get that initial sound Perfect from the start.
Nima: Yeah, but I, I think also When you’re setting that first sound, you In some sense, writing the arch of the story and when you have that Arch recorded in its own track, that kind of has Written the song in itself.
Jesper: Yeah, because the arrangement is already done sort of.
Nima: Yeah. You just follow that progression, the tone, the setting that the first recording did and then from there you try to work around it.
Hardware often plays a crucial role in shaping the sound of electronic music. Can you share some insight into the specific hardware or instruments that were integral to the creation of this album?
Jesper: The hardware stuff we use is mostly nothing unusual. For me, at least the most important thing is that you get the whole sound, including the room of the effects and the wetness of the sound good from the starch. And this is not so easy to do on the computer, at least not for me. For me it’s more easy to do it with outboard equipment and it’s usually a matter of trial and error. I’ve tried many combinations of weird and bad old gear trying to colour the sound throughout the years and this is one of the most amazing parts of creating music because you can make a tiny sound into a completely different picture using effects and different kinds of processing tools. I’m also really interested in the old drum machines of course and I experimented with some electronic analog percussive drum voices that I created in my home lab and brought to the studio one day and we used some beats from that on one of our tracks and the album, which is a funny detail.
Nima: The drum sounds on “coming over” are recorded using those sounds. That’s pretty cool.
Each track on the album seems to evoke different emotions and energies. Do you have a favourite track from “It’s a Love Song,” and if so, what makes it stand out for you?
Nima: “It’s A Love song”, because it’s a love song!
Jesper: Yeah, that’s the favourite track probably has to be the main title “It’s a love song” because it symbolises the story of the whole album. And for some reason, to me at least, the one that makes me the most emotional. But other than that, it’s really hard to choose.
Nima: Yeah, I think, at some point all of them have been a favourite. It’s been changing every time or often. Over time it has changed which one has been my favourite, but each one of them has been my favourite at some time.
Jesper: Then there are the ones you always tend to play in DJ sets, the ones that work perfectly.
Nima: Yeah and I think that is more like, what is right for the moment there and then, it doesn’t necessarily reflect which one is my favourite or not.
The Parabel label has a distinct identity. How did the label’s ethos or vibe influence the direction of this album, if at all?
Nima: I think working and releasing music together with parabel and together with other people in general… The great thing with that is that you have more minds thinking and working together and melding a more complete idea together. Obviously working since our first release with parabel, it’s a cooporation and a process. I think that makes the album and made the album what it is today. I think I wouldn’t be able to see the album released anywhere else to be honest.
Jesper: I think that the sound fits the label quite well. It’s as if, you know, our boss over at Parabel, Linda, was sitting behind our shoulders the whole time making sure that we make great tracks. She seems to like it.
Nima: Yeah, exactly.
Your music carries a blend of genres and influences. Were there any unexpected sources or experiences that unexpectedly shaped the sound of this album?
Nima: The music has been recorded over many years so some of the tracks really didn’t end up where they started. It’s been a journey throughout recording the album making it into a coherent story in the sense that it’s not just somebody’s eight favourite tracks or whatever. I think that has changed a lot of things during the process, but I don’t know if there is anything specific as an event that did it. I think it’s been part of the process to be able to change stuff and maybe let go of great ideas. There are things that you thought were great ideas from the beginning but at the end actually worked that good.
Jesper: Admittedly, there are also A few records that should be credited for influencing some of the tracks more than others to the point where I was almost worried that they were gonna be too close to the original.
Nima: I don’t agree but okay.
Jesper: But I see them as a homage to the original producers because without them we wouldn’t obviously even sit here or have the same album in our hands. So I think it’s also a way to pay respect to a music legacy.
Nima: I think “It’s a love song” is about a love song for this music. You know, everything from the instruments, to the music makers to the dancing people to the producers, DJs and promoters, and fixers and who knows what. This is a love song about them and and in many perspectives of society they are not praised or loved but you know what It’s our love song and it’s this is in some sense what the album is about.
“It’s a Love Song” seems to convey a narrative or journey. Is there a specific message or story behind the album that you hope listeners pick up on?
Nima: I hope people listen to it and start creating their own Journeys. I always think about any piece of music when it’s released that it’s out there creating its own memories without me now and that’s what I hope it is
Jesper: And as always, I think one of the best receipts that you can get a long time after you release an album is that people still give you credits for it. Maybe in 10 years from now, somebody’s gonna say “oh by the way, that record was really good”. I loved it and it meant something to me and maybe still does. That one person saying something like that is something you can live on for a very long time.
Nima: It’s part of the love song of the scene that the people actually do that. I mean they come up and say oh yeah that that record you released in 2015 I was listening to it while I was breaking up with my you know XYZ and it meant a lot and that’s really cool.
As artists, you continuously evolve. How do you perceive your growth or evolution showcased in this album compared to your previous work?
Jesper: I think that every record is supposed to be something new. Every time you walk into the studio, there should be a goal of trying to reinvent yourself and your music making, and try to find another sound that you haven’t heard before. That’s your mission as an artist.
Nima: I also think that they are recorded over many years and in fact, I think you can hear the growth or evolution of our sound. In it. I mean, it’s not that the records on the album are You know, order of when we made them or recorded them, but you can, if you listen to them, I think you can hear our progression and our evolution in sound in the album since it is music that is recorded over three four years or something like that.
Jesper: And that makes for More interesting. Record, perhaps. Since it would have been impossible to, Creates an album with, with Travel songs sounding almost the same. Uh I mean you can’t do that. I think I mean Regis album on downwards. I mean, it’s from Early 2000s. I think it’s beautiful. Eight songs. It’s almost like it’s one song but they are genius. It’s like one Groove. But with different outputs, it’s really cool. It can be done, but I don’t think this is what we have.
Jesper: We don’t have enough time,
In the realm of electronic music, live performances often offer a unique connection with the audience. Are there specific tracks from the album that you’re particularly excited to perform live, and why do they resonate with you in a live setting?
Jesper: Personally I have to say that the last few years have probably been the best years of my musical career because these songs are also some of the best that I’ve done in my whole life. True story. And,I would have never guessed when I started out more than 30 years ago that I would have been able to go to a club when I was almost 50 and hear a bomb track that I just wrote. That is such a fantastic experience.
Nima: I think when it comes to any specific songs from performances… I mean, it’s been really magical a couple of times you know. Since these tracks are a few years old and we’ve been working on them for a few years we have had the chance also to test them out in different settings. Some of them, I think for me memorable moments with this music, have been open air settings in some beautiful spots around Stockholm. Playing in the morning hours. I think that that has really had some special moments for me and I think it’s probably been a fantastic party if we’ve been closing with something from the album!
Jesper: Yeah, it’s definitely one of the best ego boosts you can have as an artist.
Nima: I agree. I feel humbled by the experience but it’s also an amazing ego boost. Reality.
Jesper: This is also, I think, what this album is about. It’s a song to celebrate the fact that you can do what you love for so many years and still get rewarded when you do something that you love