Zephyr Sleep Sequence – das sind die beiden schwedischen Soundtüftler Henrik Karlsson (Subverge/Seven Trees) und Peter Josefsson (Meipr/Sepdek), die nun auch gemeinsam die Tiefen düsterer elektronischer Klangwelten erforschen. Ihr Debüt-Track „Shellburned“, kürzlich auf dem Mixtape „Svärta“ des Stockholmer Labels åtåmåtån erschienen, ist ein fesselndes Musikstück, das unter die Haut geht und weit über die Spielzeit nachwirkt. In unserem Interview sprechen Henrik und Peter über die Entstehung von Zephyr Sleep Sequence, ihre musikalischen Einflüsse, den kreativen Prozess hinter „Shellburned“ und geben Einblicke in ihre kreative Zusammenarbeit.

How did Zephyr Sleep Sequence come into being? What made you decide to start the project?
P: I’ve known Henrik for quite some time now and I guess it was only a matter of time before we did something together. We are very similar in many ways. I’ve always been a fan of the way Henrik approaches music. He has his „sound“ and I found a way to inject myself into his soundscapes.
H: I find Peter’s role in Meipr intriguing and the end result of their work to be fantastic, and it was always in the back of my head to at some point see if we could do something together. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would pan out until I got the first set of stems/material from him, and given how “Shellburned” turned out through the combination of our efforts I knew that working with Peter would be both fun and rewarding.

How did your band name come about, and what does it mean to you?
H: I have always had rather bad insomnia, and it’s been especially rough the past 4 years or so, with very little sleep. It became part of my personality; I was always the guy who slept 3-4 hours a night. I tried to come up with different sleep routines, but nothing really helped. Eventually I succumbed and ended up composing and producing at night. A lot of the music I’ve made for my dark ambient project Subverge, and also while working on the Seven Trees “Dead/End” and “End/Dead” albums – I’ve done a lot of that while heavily sleep deprived. It became my “new normal”, and I got used to it after a while. The name is something I came up with during one of my nightly delirious sessions, and both me and Peter felt it fit really well for this project.

Zephyr-Sleep-Sequence

Can you tell us a few things about the connection between you two and your journey into music?
P: As I said before, me and Henrik are very similar in many ways. We are into the same type of music and I think we both like harsh and dark sounds. We like chaos, machines and noise. I think we approach the writing process in a similar way too. For me, it almost always starts with a sound. From there on, it’s all about layers and shaping the structure of the track. I know that Henrik will make the track a lot better. He is more into production than I am. I’m more into the creative aspect of coming up with ideas and making sounds. Henrik is the one that ties everything together.
H: I agree with Peter on all accounts, and I think my strengths are more in the composing, structuring and producing aspects rather than sound design, at least to a certain extent – obviously I do sound design as well, especially when it comes to Subverge, where that is key. But, I know some people can sit and tweak a kick drum for hours (and enjoy it) – I just don’t have that kind of patience. It ruins the creative process and flow for me. Even when the track is done and it’s time to wrap up and start to mix there will be no hour-long sessions with a kick drum. I find other ways of getting the sound I want. Getting stems/material from Peter is very liberating cause I have something to build on. It’s exciting to try to create something new out of it, whether it’s close to what he had in mind, or something completely different. He gives me full freedom to do what I want which is cool, it opens up endless possibilities. I respect him a lot for being that open and giving me that opportunity.

If you had to describe your music in terms of not music … What would you say? What are you looking for in music? What are the boundaries that you look to explore with music?
P: I think it’s like a dark horror flick. It’s not something that will make you feel comfortable or safe. It’s supposed to make you feel a bit haunted and perhaps weary. What I love about music is that there’s music for every occasion. I like stuff that makes you feel. Some stuff makes you happy, sad or anything in between. I want it to make me feel something. I guess that’s what I’m looking for. Songs that move me in any way. The best ones send shivers down your spine. Some songs bring comfort when you feel like shit. Makes you feel less lonely in some way. When it comes to exploring music ideas, I think I don’t really know what I’m doing. I just try stuff. Some stick, some ideas are instantly deleted. Every track I’ve made with ZSS and Meipr are approached much in the same way. It starts with a sound and in my head, there is an end credit rolling. The songs should fit in any black and white movie in the horror or thriller genre. It’s supposed to be dark, a bit skewed and hopefully haunting.
H: I think Peter describes this very well. When it comes to boundaries – I’ve lately been considering to really challenge myself and do things that I don’t normally do, to push myself and my own boundaries and the concepts I seem to follow. I get the feeling that I want to break free of patterns, which might be why I enjoy working on ZSS material a little extra. There’s always a lot of fans complaining when bands change direction, but as musicians – who would want to make the same kind of music for 30-40 years or whatever? Depeche Mode is a good example – I don’t like their past couple of albums at all, and I prefer what they did from “Construction Time Again” through “Violator”, but I still respect that they’re doing what they want to do. I wouldn’t want them to continue doing the same thing over and over just for the sake of pleasing their hardcore fans.

What is sound to you?
P & H: It’s the thing that makes you feel. It’s like a metal pipe with a rusted surface that could hurt you. It’s like a fluffy cloud that you could feel safe sleeping on. It’s like a dark messy liquid that could either soothe you or drown you.

What are your first musical memories? When did you first fall in love with sound?
P: My parents were both into music. My dad was into jazz and he taught me to play the guitar and the piano. He taught me everything. He was very supportive when I grew up. He was really interested in the synths and samplers I gathered in my room growing up. My mom was into The Beatles and The Stones. They used to play a lot of records. That’s my first memory of music. Or us riding in the car listening to the radio. My moms records were also the start of my own record collection. I remember hearing The Beatles „I am the walrus“. I thought it was a bit scary. I instantly loved it. Or the Stones „You can’t always get what you want“. I must have been around four or five years old.
H: Strangely enough, my parents were not very interested in music. I know my mom was into The Beatles and Elvis Presley in the 60’s, but they didn’t listen to music at all when I grew up. They did have a turntable though, and some records, and I was the one exploring that little collection. The first record I really liked was “Arrival” by Abba, when I was around 5-6 or so. But it wasn’t until Kim Wilde released her “Select” album in 1982 that I really got into music, at the age of 8. I just loved that album, and I still do. Excellent pop with some electronic stuff added to the production, strong female lead. I was also a big fan of David Bowie at an early age. What got me into electronic music was “A Broken Frame” by Depeche Mode – a friend played it for me late 1982 and it opened up a new world of sounds to me.

What impact do your surroundings have on your art?
P: Anything. It can be movies, books, paintings, world events. Anything. I think the world we live in right now is probably the darkest in a long time. It’s not hard to find inspiration among all the terrible events right now. I guess this is my way of dealing with it.
H: I agree with Peter, things are really dark in the world at the moment – everywhere and in most respects. I must say, though, that I’m not particularly influenced by my surroundings, at least not if that implies politics etcetera. I draw more from personal experiences, and as someone who suffers from a lot of anxiety there’s always a lot of “good stuff” to be channelled into songs. I’m more interested in interpersonal relationships and psychological challenges than making songs about what’s going on in the world. Don’t get me wrong – I can appreciate that when other bands do it, but it’s just not my thing to write about or get inspired by.

What topics are you currently drawn to in your work?
P: „Shellburned“ was written last summer while I was trying to clean out my fathers apartment. I think much of my anxiety of taking someone else’s stuff and deciding what to keep or not, somehow manifested itself on the track. I felt terrible. My father was still alive at the time and it just felt wrong. That feeling had a lot of impact. The current war in the middle east and in the Ukraine is hard not to think about and I think it affects me while writing.

Recently your first track “Shellburned“ came out. Can you tell us a bit more about the process of this track? How do you work together?
P: As I said before, „Shellburned“ was written during the summer of 2023. I had to clean out my fathers house. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I brought my Make Noise Strega and some modules, just to have something to do during the evenings. I felt wrong doing what I had to do. I think that and the Strega set the tone for the track. I remember just using that synth with some other Make Noise stuff like the Mimeophon. I think I already had Henrik in mind. I like to write with a purpose. I know we had spoken about doing something for a long time. Then Ella and Anders invited us to participate on the Svärta compilation. I think that’s how it began. So far, I’ve been making stuff and I’ve sent it to Henrik. I have no doubt it will be the other way around in the future. He has carte blanche to do whatever he wants with the stems I’m sending him. Me and Henrik Meierkord work in the exact same way in Meipr.
H: We talked about boundaries before, and it would indeed be very interesting to do things the other way around at some point. I’m a bit of a control freak, so it would probably prove both challenging and liberating for me to send stuff to Peter for him to fiddle around with.

In what ways is it different making music as Seven Trees and Meipr?
P: For me, no. I approach this in the exact same way. In other words, I heavily rely on someone else! Haha …
H: It is like night and day for me. With Seven Trees – at least what we’ve done so far – we have a pretty set pattern; it’s verse/chorus based, and you need to adapt accordingly. With Subverge and ZSS there is more freedom in the layout of the tracks, and I approach it very differently. When composing Subverge/ZSS tracks I’m very influenced by sounds, and while that is true also for Seven Trees, the process, sounds and structures are very different. Seven Trees is a bit more “commercial” (without being commercial per se), while the Subverge canvas is clean and I can do whatever I want. With ZSS the difference is that I get material from Peter that I shape into songs by adding my own stuff. I like all approaches to making music, and I like a good challenge, which is probably why I enjoy doing remixes a lot as well. Also, with Seven Trees there’s usually gonna be vocals which you have to keep in mind throughout the entire process.

What artistic influences, outside of music, have had a significant influence on how you approach your music?
P: I guess I’m a bit of a simpleton. Anything can bring inspiration. From reading a book to watching a movie, poems, hearing people saying something. Anything. Conversations. Me and Henrik talk a lot about music in general. We are both nerdy record collectors. Sometimes the fact that you are working with a certain person can be highly inspirational.
H: I’m much like Peter – anything can be inspiring. I would say I am not very influenced by other artists actually, music or otherwise – well to a certain extent on a subconscious level, that’s inevitable. But it’s interesting, because people often take for granted that because you do a certain type of music, you know that genre inside out. People have throughout the years often said that Seven Trees reminds them of certain old school dark electro and industrial bands, but I don’t think I’ve heard any of the bands that’s been mentioned. I know the names, but that’s it. The classic bands that I listened to when growing up aside – I don’t listen to a lot of dark electro or industrial, which people often find surprising.

What’s next for you? What are you most looking forward to?
P: I’m working on several things at the same time. Besides ZSS, there is a new album by Meipr and also Sepdek. This coming Saturday, I will join Alvar on stage at Bodyfest in Stockholm. That is something I really look forward to. It’s always fun to release new music. Hopefully, someone will notice it and even enjoy it!
H: I am always working on a lot of new stuff with the different projects I have, and right now I’m planning Subverge album #4. Me and Johan have also worked quite a bit on new Seven Trees material that will eventually become an EP or an album, we are yet to decide. I’m very much looking forward to releasing this new material. With Zephyr Sleep Sequence we just finished a new track for a compilation that’s out in December, and we have a couple of more tracks in the works. Me and Johan did a Seven Trees remix for a “non scene” band some time ago, and I’m also looking forward to that one being released. The music they make is very very different from what we do and from what I listen to, and with no electronic elements at all, so it will be interesting to see how their fans react to an industrial remix.

„Shellburned“ auf Bandcamp    

Henrik Karlsson:     Facebook     Instagram

Peter Josefsson:      Facebook     Instagram

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  1. […] und freue mich schon auf den neuen Track, den Peter und Henrik in unserem Band der Woche Interview (hier) für Dezember angekündigt haben. Mit ihrem Cover von „Brända Barn“ setzen Svaj. den denkbar […]

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