DEAF CENTER INTERVIEW

With the recent review of Deaf Center’s ‘Owl Splinters’ in the bag, Erik and Otto took time out to give some more insight into what will probably be one the the best releases of 2011 and beyond…

After 6 years since ‘Pale Ravine’ why was now the right time for the next Deaf Center record?

EKS : I guess the main reason is the move to Berlin, where I suddenly met a lot of new great people like Monique from sonic pieces who again introduced me to Nils Frahm. Nils has a really great and inspirational studio in his home, and since John (type boss) had been wanting us to do a new record for years now, we all agreed it would be a good time and place to make it happen.

The album sounds incredible, can you give us some insight into the production process?

EKS : What we did was rent a cello for the weekend to try and see if we could get some good stuff out of it. Experimenting with recording piano, guitar, cello, synths and what we could find of nice sounding objects in Nils´s studio. It was quite a strange experience, as none of us had really recorded in a proper studio before. We quickly found out it was great fun, and used the next 3 days finishing almost the whole record with really great production help by Nils.

OAT: I’ve used a lot of time gathering samples and loops. You hear one of them used in New Beginning (Tidal Darkness). The good thing with sample material like this is that we can use them as a sort of canvas – making it much easier to get something started. But we had so much to play with in Nils’s studio that we didn’t use them anywhere else.

Creatively, when planning this record had you decided you would opt for a studio set up and how did this influence your approach to making the record?

EKS : Yeah, we pretty much went in to the studio with very little plans on what would come out of it. It just felt very exciting trying out a totally new approach to making a record, rather than doing it the same way as we did with pale ravine back then.

OAT: Nils asked us “ok guys, so do you have any plans for this album?”. We both answered “No… none”. Nils wasn’t set-back by this at all – he just said “OK then, let’s get started.”, and 3 days later we were done – Crazy – And we had a bloody good time doing it too. Oh, and pancakes, the best pancakes ever!

You’ve both had some time to develop your solo work. How do you think this has helped your musicianship as a duo?

EKS : It has defiantly helped us come to where we are now. Also from when we decided to go instrumental with our live shows a while back, instead of basing it on samples, sounds and voice. I think playing the few live shows we’ve had, over the last years have helped us integrate each other styles more. Neither of us are classically trained in anything though, so it’s more a process of finding out what works.

What’s it like working at Nils’ studio? Did he help out with the production at all?

EKS : Yes, very much so. Since it was all recorded into his Cubase setup (which he defiantly knows better than us!), we we´re trying to guide him and use him for the talents he has. He also contributed a lot on the actual recordings.

OAT: In this case, Nils was the 3rd band member.

Are there any particular influences on the Deaf Center sound?

EKS : Hmm. That´s very hard to answer. I’m sure there´s tons of influences, but defiantly not as specific ones as when we made Pale Ravine.

OAT: I think our biggest influences for Owl Splinters is what we have performed live.

Do you plan to tour as Deaf Center to help promote this record?

EKS: I don´t think we´ll do a proper tour, as also Otto has a job he has to take care of home in Norway. But we´ll definatly be playing shows. First one out beeing Unsound festival, New York in early april.

What can we expect from Deaf Center going forward?

EKS : No idea! That´s part of the fun with DC : )

OAT: I’ll second that!

This interview originally featured on Fluid Radio