Berlin-based Norwegian Mihle melds the digital with the acoustic on beguiling new track "Trip"

Now based in Berlin, Mihle makes electronic music with an analogue or acoustic heart. Amid the beats and ambient textures of "Trip" you can hear organic sounds made malleable, formed into something far removed from the source. This gives the song an otherwordly and unsettling feeling; while Mihle's voice is fairly pure and unadorned by affects save for a little echo, when the childlike choir hits in the chorus any sweetness is balanced out by a creeping feeling of foreboding. "Trip" is chilling - yet somehow wonderfully inviting - music.

We spoke to Mihle recently to find out more about her and "Trip".

Can you tell us a bit more about your move to Berlin? What inspired it and how does it affect your music compared to living in Norway?

I moved here in late summer 2014, after completing some music studies. It was a now or never kind of moment, I bought a one way ticket with the intention of staying until I got either broke, lonely or both. I did get broke, but decided to stay anyway, and here I am two years later.

Norway is small, beautiful and well organized. Clean, too clean at times. It affected the way I behaved and thought. I needed some headspace, to get completely lost, and experiment without anybody watching or asking how my music was doing. I feel a lot freer now, I don’t really know anybody here working the way I do, but that’s fine. Then I can’t subconsciously copy people either. The downside of it is that a lot of things are easier for me to get done in Norway, since I know so many people on weird and interesting instruments. The bottom line is that I realized at some point that I was becoming this petty, limited person I didn’t like, and did something about it. I don’t know if it made me a better person and songwriter, but I’m definitely a little wiser and more open.

You perform with another musician Henriette Kolset....how did you meet and how does your musical relationship work?

I don’t even remember how we met, we were just in the same university department. I do remember the first time we played together though, I had a band and wanted to spice it up with some melodic percussion and cello. It was a glorious experience for me, and even though the band dissolved we continued to play together. She on vibraphone, percussion and backing vocals, me on voice, piano and guitar. It’s been a very organic relationship, we’ve incorporated new elements as we’ve learned to use them and found it necessary. Like when Henriette went and bought a MalletKat, this midi-controller shaped like a vibraphone. Then we broke it on a gig in Munich, and had to work with drumpads for a while.

It works like this though: I write something, send it to her. We figure out how it can be played. Then I book something and set up a completely unrealistic timeframe for the preparations. She makes coffee, and we make it work somehow. It’s very much based upon mutual trust, we’ve done so many weird shows together and can pull a performance out of just any hat now it seems. We’ve even improvised songs a Capella because the sound failed.

Your sound seems to bring together acoustic and digital instruments...what inspires this? Do you have any particular influences?

I mostly work with soft synths out of practicality (give a girl some rest, I don’t have any roadies for those modular spaceships). As a classically educated musician though (flute, if you’re curious), I have a very close relationship with acoustic instruments. I love real strings, I love real percussion and I love vocals that haven’t been tuned to death. I can’t breath within these perfect productions, my voice isn’t made for it, and neither am I. I’ll never be one of those producers with everything perfectly polished. It’s becoming very common, but it’s just not for me. I also love transforming a sound into something else, a lot of what you think is synth is actually bowed metal tubes, stretched wind chimes and reversed piano.

I’m definitely influenced by other music, but what I hear and what comes out the other end are often very different things. This might not make any sense, but what I do now has been marked by my listening to Eminem, Susanne Sundfør and Jenny Hval's debut album. And of course, my fabulous co-producer on this one, Erlend Elvesveen.

What can you tell us about Trip?

I remember the exact moment when this line dropped into my head, "have you seen what other kids my age do", I was standing at a concert with a beer in my hand and dropped everything so I could write it down. I always think I’ll just remember stuff, then I don’t, and losing a good line is like losing a fish I guess. It gets bigger every time you tell the story. I wrote "Trip" as a comment to society, but it’s not just about getting lost in drugs and clubs. It’s also that very narrow space of socially accepted behavior, breaking up self limitation. We’re talking about Generation Perfection here, it scares me to see that there are no rebels any more, we’re all busy taking selfies.

What else can we expect from you in the future?

To be surprised! First up is the filming of a music video for "Trip". After that I’ve managed to get my favourite drummer Tomas Järmyr to join me for a special gig in Copenhagen on October 29th. I’m writing a lot of new music now though, and I might just release it too, who knows?