Chris Lie Interview
Chris Lie im Interview – “ I don’t know what to expect from myself“
Im Interview: Chris Lie; Fotocredit: Pal Laukli
Das Soundkartell hat mit dem R’n’B Musiker Chris Lie aus Norwegen gesprochen. Ein Interview über Choreographie, die Muse ein Album zu produzieren und Norwegen.
Mit „Headstarter“ erschien vor einigen Tagen ein neues Video vom R’n’B Musiker Chris Lie. Das Soundkartell spricht mit ihm über die Ästhetik in seinen Video, was er jetzt in naher Zukunft plant und über die R’n’B-Szene in Norwegen. Vor 9 Jahren begann Chris Lie Musik zu machen. Der norwegische R&B Sänger und HipHop Künstler war dafür bekannt, auf der Bühne akustische Sounds mit HipHop Elementen zu vermischen. Mit seinem zweiten Album »Love Ghost« bewegte sich ChrisLie dann mehr in die Elektro Pop Richtung. Nach »Love Ghost« erschien nun sein drittes langersehntes Album »Epilogues«. Ich habe das Interview via Mail auf Englisch mit ihm geführt:
Could you please shortly introduce your project Chris Lie?
Chris Lie: „Yes, I can! I’m an Rnb artist from Norway and I’ve been making music for 18 years. I’ve released three solo albums and contributed to a handfull of projects for other artists. My new album, „Epilogues“ is out now, and I’m in the studio as always working on more stuff.“
R’n’B from Norway, that isn’t usually. Or in which way do you think Chris Lie fits to the R’n’B scene in Norway?
Chris Lie: „Actually, the R’n’b scene over here has grown tremendously over the last few years. A lot of the artists who do the less „poppy“ version of it mostly sings in Norwegian though. There are plenty of rnb inspired artists out here getting a lot of radio play. My take on the genre is probably a bit more left than most of the stuff out now. Less trap-music oriented I guess. For instance one of the songs on the album, „good bye song“ is almost a 80’s rock ballad that in some strange way crosses paths with R’n’b.“
Newspaper Natt & Dag claimed that the opening track „Drunk Dialer“ is one of the best songs in the history of Norwegian music. In which way do you feel for yourself that you are playing a specific or an outstanding role for the norwegian musicscene?
Chris Lie: „I don’t really think much about playing a role in the music scene, so that’s a tough one two answer. My focus is pretty introvert, just trying to compete with myself. Always trying to improve my craft and chase after things that tickles my curiosity. If I really love something, my hope is that someone else will too.“
Your video to “Heartstarter” is very esthetic. Which importance does esthetic plays in your music?
Chris Lie: „If your talking about the esthetics related to images in my mind, it plays a huge role. For instance with „Heartstarter“ I imagined all along that I wanted the song to sound like a black and white cartoon. I wanted all the sounds and the vocals to sound like a great artist drawed them with a black marker. I’m also one of those weirdos that think a lot about what color different sounds should have.“
The choreography is a very important element in the video. This is also a very esthetic element in the video. Was this an idea of Pål Laukli?
Chris Lie: „Yes, Pål had wanted to do a video with Marianne Haugli and thought this was the perfect opportunity to invite her to dance. I pretty much gave him total artistic freedom. Pål is the kind of guy that makes up stuff along the way. He permanently got the energy of sugared up kid at a birthday party so it’s always great fun to work with him. The only idea we had before going to Berlin was that Marianne was going to dance and I was going to sing. Everything else just fell into place naturally, most likely because Berlin is such an inpiring city.“
In which way you transform your songs to something like “pictorial art”?
Chris Lie: „To me it’s mostly about just following the music and the images that pops into your mind. In this case Pål did most of this work though. He is an amazing photographer and all I really had to do was to give him my trust.“
Im Interview: Chris Lie; Fotocredit: Pal Laukli
Last weekend I watched Viva and MTV for the first time since years ago. And right at this moment I asked myself: Really, who needs musicvideos in TV right now in the year 2015/16?” Could you give me an answer why your music needs this “second level”?
Chris Lie: „If it’s really good work it can help the listeners grasp what the artist is about. I don’t know if my music needs it, but it can deffinetly be an added bonus. Combing artforms that appeals to more than one of the human senses tends to be engaging. May be I should try to do a video that you can both smell and eat one day.“
You say that your song “Heartstarter” is about trying to help someone through a difficult time in their life and in the video you want to help the person. How does the protagonist help the the other person?
Chris Lie: „The person who needs help in this song is pretty depressed and has a lot of anxciety. The hero of the song is just your average Joe trying to be a good friend. Mainly just saying that thinking positivily is crucial if you want to start the healing process. It might sound a bit quasi- philosphical, but I still think there’s a lof of truth to that.“
What can we expect from you in the nearer future…creating other very nice videos?
Chris Lie: „The cool thing right now is that even I don’t know what to expect from myself. I’m just looking forward to hit the studio and see what happens next. That’s the beauty of finnishing an album, all of a sudden I got a blank page again that I can fill with pretty much anything that my imagination grants me.“
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Chris Lie – Heartstarter from Oslo Records on Vimeo.
