Swedish duo FELIN go thrillseeking on the bold and brash "Bored"

Sounding like the mixed zone of a Venn diagram which contains Sleigh Bells and Icona Pop (who FELIN have worked with, alonside Tove Lo and Adam Lambert) "Bored" is an anthem for no-strings good times. Huge drums, muscular riffs and singer/songwriter Elin's bubblegum-with-attitude vocals make this a track filled with messy,fucked-up fun. As she sings "I can't get high, can't get high, can't get high enough", you can tell that if Elin isn't going to reach those heights it's not for a lack of trying.

Ahead of the single release, we spoke to FELIN to find out more about the duo and their music.

FELIN are something of an unconventional duo, how does the music work with the visual side provided by Fredrik?

Elin: I’m the singer and songwriter in FELIN. Fredrik is the 'F' in FELIN and the secret band member who takes care of the visual side. FELIN is a project where two different artists meet and create together. Today there are so many platforms for expressing yourself not only with music but visually. We wanted to create a project where there are no boundaries or rules. There’s a constant flow of creativity and exchange of ideas, and we’re always creating new content. Sometimes Fredrik has an idea for a video and I write a song that would fit to it and sometimes it’s the opposite.

What can you tell us about "Bored"? The lyrics seem no-nonsense and the music matches...

”Bored” is about always seeking thrills. A song for all the restless souls out there, but also a reflection over the world today where everything has become so accessible that we become bored as soon as we have a moment to reflect. The video for Bored is shot on a rooftop in Tokyo. Fredrik had a camera and I had a bottle of wine and the creation process begun. We wanted to capture a raw intimate feeling and the restlessness of the song. That’s all I can say about the video right now.

Who and/or what influences FELIN?

Life and all the magic nuances between the luxury and the dirty, the ugly and the beautiful, the messy and the elegant. We’re inspired by the unpredictable things and by those who dare to take a stand for something.

You've worked with some big, well-know names so how does releasing your own music compare to this?

Elin: I’ve always felt the most comfortable on stage, that’s where I wanna be, but writing songs has always been a big part of my life and I’ve always known that if I’m gonna be an artist I wanna write my own songs. When I write for myself I’m involved in the process from beginning to end, from every single sound in the song, the mixing process, until planning the video, and releasing the song. It’s important to me to have control over the process. When you write for others the writing process is often very intense and you almost have to live like the person you’re writing for, feeling what he or she feels. It can be very liberating, not always having to dig into your own emotions. But then once the song is done it might take a year before it’s released and when it is out you almost forgot about the song already.

Fredrik: When working with FELIN we have total artistic freedom. When working with other artists it’s always someone else making the decisions, with our own project we can do whatever we want and we make all the calls. But that also makes the release scarier because there’s no one else than us that stand behind the choices. But we love that rush.

You have an all-female production team (Jenny & Cecilia Vaz) working on "Bored", is that right?

For us it’s always first and foremost about the song and the talent, not the gender. There are so many great female producers out there right now that deserve more attention, but there is so much prejudice in the industry and everyone assumes that the producer has to be a man. For example once a man is involved in a song, even if all the other writers and producers are female, the industry immediately assumes that it was the guy who produced everything even if he just tweaked one little sound. That’s why we want to make a statement with an all female production to show that “hey this is what the song sounds like, and it’s made completely by girls”. The next FELIN single is also an all female production so keep an eye out for that one too.

What's next for FELIN?

We’re so excited for this fall and the release of FELIN’s debut EP. The goal is firstly and foremost to develop our vision and take FELIN to new places and involving more visual elements and of course we want to see FELIN grow and take on bigger stages.