Under Byen – Alt Er Tabt

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Your live shows have been called spellbinding, what is it about them that attract such a description?

We try to concentrate on what we’re doing. We don’t really talk on stage or anything like that. But we try to make a place for our songs where anybody who’s listening can fit in.

Now that you have released some records under Paper Bag, do you plan to write and record any new material in English?

Henriette writes danish lyrics. in my opinion they’re excellent, morbid, funny, really good texts. They and the music are closely tied together. And the danish language has so different sounds than English. i guess under byen with english lyrics would be a totally different thing. So for now we’ll stick with danish.

Do you feel as if Scandinavian countries are becoming known for their take on rock by infusing it with electronic music and omitting the use of guitars? Are there other Danish bands that are doing something similar to what you’re doing?

We have never really felt as part of a scene.  But i guess it’s always different when you look at things from the outside, you see similarities and connections in sound and style that i would never have thought of.  So i’ll let you be the judge of that.

Now that a member who was responsible for some of the songwriting has left the band, how have you adapted? Has the band taken a new musical direction on the forthcoming album, Alt Er Tabt?

Almost everybody in the band wrote songs for this album, which actually opened up the opportunity to really go new places. We talked a lot about minimalism while working on this. not like in la monte young or terry riley, but more in a way of being to the point and accurate.  The songs are shorter and i think also more precise. but of course, when i listened to the final master, I was almost overwhelmed by all the stuff we had managed to get in there anyway. But there is a different feel to it, i think. More straight and more static in a way.