korallreven interview

I am so relieved Korallreven eventually released the album Air France never achieved. It sure took them all the way back from Samoa, but they managed to keep it intact: the steel pan drums, the local chants, and most of all this massive rush of endorphins whenever those synths kick in. One can hardly imagine what my brain felt like when I read their answers. Sorta like a dream, isn't it ?

Who were you in high school?
Marcus Joons: I lived pretty much in my daydreams. I was extremely shy, I’m actually still pretty shy, and I have felt that it quite often gets misinterpreted as that I am snobbish. Anyway, I knew from the age of 16 or so that I was gonna move from this smalltown on the Swedish countryside where I grew up as soon as I could so the weekends circulated around stuff that burned all the bridges to it. It was a fun time, for sure.

Did you have any ambitions when you started playing music, in the very first place?
MJ: Yeah, but it feels like that the people around us have had even higher ambitions than the Mount Everest ones that we have had. You know, everything has happened kinda backwards for us. It started with that I some summers ago came back from Samoa with a musical vision that I told Daniel about, from that we started to record some songs and then, suddenly, we had this record deal with Acéphale. And then, when the album was ready, we had international booking agencys before we even had started to rehearse.

Any ritual or special routine associated with making music that you’ve developed through the years?
MJ: I’m sorry but not more than that we use to trust the melodies that comes up and get stuck to our heads before we even had recorded them. We trust our minds.

What's exciting in the music world right now ? What's boring?
MJ: You mean for us, or overall? I think it’s pretty exciting that truly anything - and then I mean truly anything - can happen. We wrote our very first song two years ago and now all this funfunfun is happening all around us. Kinda instant smilin’.

Any good places you would recommend for music-digging? Any blogs perhaps?
MJ: At the moment we are very into UK rave from the early 90’s so we are checking those places out. There’s just too many to name. Just google ”UK rave + 1991” and then go from that.

What's the best gift one can give you with a 100$?
MJ: A violinist for a day. Or a super fine Pinot Noir. I think that we are worth it now, don’t you think?

Oh yes. I've already spent those on a plane ticket to Stockholm. And while An Album by Korallreven is out now on Acéphale, you can grab their latest mixtape below.

Korallreven - Ra Ra Rave On

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