THE GUITARIST of Denmark's hardest working band meets Shane O' Reilly. With a sound like no other, the five-piece have travelled, touring endlessly and recording almost one album every year since 2004.
Shane O' Reilly: So Rasmus, not so long ago, I was listening to you guys and Mum, Tortoise, Sigur Ros, Godspeed.. and a few others. I made a CD of my favourite tracks. I entitled it SONIC LANDSCAPES. Reckon it's a good title?
Rasmus: I reckon it would be a good title for many compilations - but it sounds a little too tai-chi-ish and chill-out to me. I would name the compilation "good music" that only tells you the music is good and does not direct you in a direction before you listen to it :-)
SOR: Speaking of Tortoise, you guys just finished playing at the new Analog festival alongside them, how was that? How different was it to some of the more commercial festivals?
R: It was very inspiring to see Tortoise. It was our first Tortoise concert so we did not know what to expect, but we were all blown away by their set. I lost a bass in the airport and they were very kind to let me play one of theirs. All in all a great evening! We rarely play commercial festivals. But as Analog is a city festival it sure is more clean than most other festivals
SOR: People over here generally have little knowledge of the music scene in Denmark. Ireland and England, for the most part, make a very different type of music compared to Efterklang. Do you enjoy the repetitive generic rock we churn out between us?
R: There is a lot of generic rock music in Denmark too - too much in fact. It is not my favourite thing. But sometimes a very good song appears. I was very enthusiastic about Franz Ferdinand when they debuted - that was a lot of good songs!
SOR: I still listen to 'Tripper' an awful lot, even though I like the other albums just as much. I've become very comfortable and homely with it. How have you challenged yourselves musically from album to album? The shapes and sounds are always shifting it seems...
R: when we did Tripper we said to each other that every single idea we had for the songs and arrangements should be tested before we decided if it could go on the record or not. Having that rule made us brave enough to contact a Greenlandic choir and string and brass players. We learned a lot from that process. When we did Parades we had ambitions about the recordings and also the balance between electronic and analog sides in the music. We wanted them to merge together as one thing.
SOR: You have pretty much produced an album every year since around 2004 or been touring, or both, any break in sight or are you happy to plow on ahead?
R: Very happy! We all feel that we just got started for real. We have many plans and ambitions for the future
SOR: So, back in Ireland for the Electric Picnic festival in September perhaps, or at another later date?
R: Maybe next year - we would love to play the Picnic. We really like Ireland. Every time we go we have a great time. I think Dublin might be one of best cities to play in Europe. The crowd are often more welcoming than our hometown audience in Copenhagen
Check out Efterklang at: www.myspace.com/efterklang
