Track by Track: Snasen on Forsvinningen

05 June 2015, 16:00 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(Snasen)

Norwegian producer Snasen is on the brink of releasing Forsvinningen, his debut long-player and follow up to last year's lauded Grok EP. Although intensely personal and dark in places, dealing with a variety of topics close to his heart - not least the loss of his unborn daughter - it's also incredibly collaborative, with members of Psyence Fiction, Amulet, Us As Effigies, Beezewax, Heyerdahl and more contributing noises.

Full of twisted, knotted electronica and hypnotic deviations into ambient music, Forsvinningen is capable of forcing you to experience a gamut of emotions concurrently; it's not a particularly easy listen in places, but that shouldn't stop you from devouring it in one sitting. Like Samaris, Snasen wields electronic music like a weapon, and gives it a great weight, and a great heart.

You can read his Track by Track guide to the intensely emotional, complex record, and then stream it in full at the bottom of the page.

Sober Lunch

The first track was originally intended for the DRONE soundtrack I recently composed, but I felt the record needed a slow opening. It features Bjørn Rummelhoff Hansen on guitar. There is a dreariness to it that I like. Repetitive but with occasional sparks - like work.

Ink Blot

Ellen Sofie Mosebekk & Aleksander Johansen contribute vocals in Ink Blot. A song about anticipation, when you start to reflect on your own history, personality, flaws and so on because you are going to transmit those genes to someone else. I remember breaking toys for the percussion and amping synths through an old Fender Bassman amp.

Motion Commotion

I call this the happy track. Joyous anticipation. Like when you were a kid and you knew your birthday was coming up. I really like the knock of the snare in the first part made with contact mic´s on copper bowls. The angelic and distant vocals are by Torgny Amdam.

The Message : Ride Home

We got the horrible message that my unborn daughter didn't have a heartbeat. This track tries to describe the chaotic dialogue between me and my wife. We took turns screaming while trying to rationalize everything. The left and right panned percussion makes it almost come apart. On our ride home the taxi driver gave us some set phrase akin to the Evel Knievel voice sample in the song and the ride drifted into absurdity.

Oh The Things I've Seen

Utter despair at the maternity ward. I made it by playing the exposed springs of different spring reverbs and making filtered feedback loops.

Vaapen

Vaapen features lyrics from "Til ungdommen" - a poem by Nordahl Grieg from 1936. The haunting vocals are by Heidi Sofie Kvanvig. We used to be in a band together ages ago. It was her idea to use the lyrics. She recorded the vocals at home and I recontextualized it to make it fit the theme of the record.

Langt Nede

Again Alexander Johansen contributes vocals on "Langt Nede". It's about the things I would have done for my daughter. It has this really sludgy start and then rolls down hill at the end. We recorded a lot of acoustic string instruments but used them as percussion. Also lots of Buchla bongos.

Time A

Ellen Sofie Mosebekk sang "All The Pretty Horses" at my daughters funeral and we decided to work the lyrics into the song. There is an awkward nervousness in these kinds of settings and I think it captures that feeling. A very unstable song.

The Hoplite

Hoplites were Greek farmers and workers turned into soldiers in the summertime. In battles they had to keep their formation so the enemy wouldn’t breeak through, and this is of course littered with analogies. Torgny sings on it and it was the most intense vocal session I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. Torgny is a true genius and also batshit crazy.