intro.de
By ?
Published: intro.de 2004
Stina Nordenstam hasn't given interviews in years. She didn't want to talk
about herself, about her difficult childhood in a Stockholm suburb, about
a lack of stability, loneliness, unrequited love. And not about her music
either, that explains all this at length and which actually provides enough
pieces of the puzzle. Why should she let herself be confronted by strange
people with probing questions when she's really already told everything
in her songs? Now she's talking though. Unbelievably quietly, and with long
pauses. She takes time to compose her thoughts, to formulate them, or simply
let them fray. "Get On With Your Life" is the name of the first
single from her sixth album. A programme? Sure. Keep going, always keep
going. Despite the missing link to the world. "I have the feeling I
don't belong anywhere" she discovered. "I'm learning to accept
it though. I used to suffer a lot more than I do these days."
13 years have passed since her debut "Memories Of A Color" whose
release beckoned after winning a small talent competition. Four more albums
followed. In their detail very different, but in their effect always typical,
the most wonderful melodies in a musical landscape, guitar play flung amongst
arrangements as subtle as they are complex, all bounded by orchestral delirium.
Throughout Stina Nordenstam's music there is ' besides her fragile, child-adult
voice ' a thread that remains true to a style, she starts with small moments
and makes them the centre point of the world, inflating small instruments
and seemingly letting them fill the space. "It's my way of perceiving
things" she says. The whole picture doesn't count, rather the detail,
a self prescribed short sightedness.
I read that you see every album of yours as a reaction to the previous one.
What were you reacting too with "The World Is Saved"'
- It's difficult to pin down, it isn't a conscious decision. Perhaps I'll
be able to say more exactly in a couple of years time when I look back on
it... It's important to me to try out new things, with new people. As far
as recording was concerned this time, it was on a small budget in Sweden.
For the last record there I had a large budget In America.
Concerning changes: the arrangements appear to have become more complex,
and the basic mood has a slightly positive tendency. I know that latter
is said about every new record of yours, but this time it really does seem
true...
- There are those that claim exactly the opposite about the mood. As I was
working on "This is" I had two co-producers with strong opinions
[Mitchell Froom und Tchad Blake], who knew exactly what they wanted. This
time around I did it all alone. You can hear it in the arrangements. They
are more complex, less obvious.
The first time I heard [WIS] I was certain that Mitchell Froom had again
produced.
- Really?
He also made two of Suzanne Vega's most exciting records - "99.9 F'"
and "Nine Objects Of Desire".
- That was the reason I wanted to work with him.
Do you feel a connection to Suzanne Vega as an artist?
- Sure. There isn't that many solo female artists. Björk, Suzanne Vega...
Because Mitchell Froom was married to her, and because we drove together
by car to the studio during the work on "This Is", I know a whole
bunch of personal stuff about Suzanne Vega. Is Mitchell still together with
Vonda Shephard?
Unfortunately I don't know. How was it then this time, producing alone?
- It was... different. On the one hand it's frustrating working with people
like Mitchell Froom. He so sure about everything. On the other hand he was
challenging. You have to state clearly what you want. Working alone is ...
well, different.
The album's title "The World Is Saved" sounds hopeful. Who has
rescued it then?
- Hmm... that's a very philosophical question. [Stina takes a pinch of snuff
and places it between her teeth and upper lip. There follows a short digression
on the advantages of enjoying nicotine smoke-free]. Would you like some
too?
No, thank you. I've asked myself whether recording albums is difficult for
you, an inner battle that has to be fought out.
- No, not at all. It's more like a mathematical puzzle. You're putting various
bit and pieces together, thinking "that doesn't fit here, but perhaps
there". It's a journey through trial and error. Of course a lot of
emotions are involved in the process, but also this mathematical / analytical
thinking.
But you haven't yet found the unified formula?
- I'm working on it. It is indeed the case that sometimes I look back at
my albums and think "this song is nearly perfect".
Which then?
- I can't say. Luckily this feeling usually disappears very quickly.
What drives you?
- Inventing an alternative language. On many different levels. As far as
language is concerned it's like this: you switch on the TV and are bombarded
with language and you develop the same associations as all the other viewers.
But sometimes you don't understand a thing... In music understanding works
on different levels. These other levels are important to me.
Is music for a way of communicating with the world, or of shutting it out?
- The aim can't be of shutting it out. In order to create something you
have to participate in the world.
Are reactions important to you? From particular people?
- No, they tend rather to confuse me. I don't talk about music with those
people who are close to me. I have maybe two friends who are interested
in it. Sometimes you meet someone you know who can help you with their opinion.
But that's seldom the case. I would bound to be a totally different artist
if I were to play live, if I were certain that I would be understood correctly.
(note: unsure about the second clause here)
Why don't you perform concerts?
- I don't see it as being part of what I do. I can record albums. Playing
live is a totally different skill, indeed a different form of entertainment.
It would also be very difficult to reproduce my albums, and it would be
boring, for me. For a short while i had a band. It wasn't bad, but somehow
not enough...
I've read a number of things about you... that you had a difficult, loveless
childhood, that after your first album you've lived on an island, that you
severed ties with your family...
- Can I say something about your interview?
Sure, be my guest.
- That was a lot of questions in one go [snuff, the second batch].
Actually that wasn't the question at all.
- Ah, just observations.
Exactly. The question is coming up now ' do you have a fundamental feeling
of not belonging anywhere?
- Yeah sure, absolutely. I'm learning to accept it though. I used to suffer
because of it a lot more than I do these days. If you have for example a
difficult relationship to the family, you tend to reproduce it. That is
just the way it is.
Why are giving interviews again?
- I had had enough of my decision not to give any.
But you don't enjoy it, do you?
- No. I don't really like presenting myself.
What I think is characteristic of your albums, aside from your voice, is
a particular atmosphere... small moments, capturing small instruments and
making them seem large and expansive, filling the space.
- I'm very short sighted. It's my way of perceiving things. For example
when i was out with my ex-boyfriend and we were taking pictures... we took
photos of the same things, he took wide shots and mine were small.
In general people think you voice is very child-like. I can't really follow
that, I think it sounds incredibly adult.
- I can understand both. It doesn't change anything because i can't sing
any other way. As far as my voice is concerned I am - to be honest ' very
frustrated. I sometimes ask myself "Is that the way it's always going
to remain'" I'm so limited.
But in a very pleasant way I find. And anyway, the recall factor is very
high.
- I know that that has its advantages, sounding unique. Nevertheless it's
frustrating. I can't change anything. What if I wanted to change something'
You have that with many things and at some point you have to say "Well,
that's the way I am. I'm small and I'm not going to get any funnier either".
Knowing your own limits can also be very useful.
- Yes, but
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