Interviewfeature Fieh über neues Album „III“

Fieh sprechen über ihr neues Album „III“; Fotocredit: Jonathan Vivaas Kiese

Am 15. September erschien das neue Album „III“ der norwegischen „Future-Soul“ Band Fieh. Und es ist mal wieder ein mitreißendes Album mit Inspirationen aus den 60er Jahren Soul, House, R&B und Hip-Hop entstanden. Sie präsentieren uns Fieh überaus spannende  Kompositionen. Da kann es gut und gerne kreuz und quert gehen zwischen groovigen Beats und immer wieder blitzt die überwältigende Stimme von Leadsängerin Sofie Tollefsbøl auf. Es geht auf dem Album um das Leben als Musiker:in, die Trauer, den Alkohol, das Reisen und die Ziele und Hoffnungen. Also um die gesamte Gefühlspalette der Musiker:innen.

You can always make a pretty boring bass line very cool, or a cool bass line very boring.

Fieh entführen uns in mitreißende Klangwelten, die sich Künstler:innen wie Gorillaz, Amy Winehouse, Anderson Paak oder Steve Lacey als Inspiration herausgepickt haben. Im absoluten Fokus steht hier Sofie, die die Songs schreibt und auch konzipiert. So gesehen kann man ihre Band Hilfshelfer:innen bezeichnen. Aber würde dem Sound keinesfalls gerecht werden. Nur durch die komplexe Band-Konstruktion entstehen Tracks wie „Streamline“ oder „My Dream“. Man muss diese Musik wirklich laut aufdrehen und sich dabei treiben lassen. Diese Experimentierfreude und Bombast an Sounds ist einfach überwältigend.

As thrilling as the titles on your new album „III“ sound, you named the album in an unspectacular way. Should this represent a conscious counter-pool?

Fieh: „No, not really. It just felt right to name it “Fieh III”. It marks the beginning of our Led Zeppelin era.“

Your new album deals with all facets of the musicians. Can you highlight the best and the worst ones that people tend to close their eyes to?

Fieh: „I’m not sure if you mean musical facets of our musicians, or facets of a musicians life, but I am going for the second one; The best is, of course, and people don’t close their eyes to that I think, to work with something you truly care for. Work doesn’t always feel like work when you work with music, but also, you are kind of always working, haha. You are never sure if you are unemployed, on holiday, at work or something in between. I think it’s a little bit hard to choose economic instability by choosing to be a musician. And people who work with normal things around you sometimes seem to think you do so because you are stupid. Like not having a well paid job = being stupid. But actually, it doesn’t even feel like a real choice any more, cause I know I never could work with anything else without being sad and bored to shit.“

And how do you translate these contrasting emotional worlds into music?

Fieh: „I just want to express my thoughts on various things that I go through, that being frustration about things in my life or any other emotion.“

If you were to trace your path from your 2017 single „Glu“ to the release today, would you see yourself at an all-time high now or are you just climbing that peak?

Fieh: „Fluuuuu<3. I am more happy with this album than I ever was with previous albums at the time of their release, but I don’t think this is our all-time high at all. I think our next album will be very very good.“

Your new compositions are really incredibly exciting because so much happens in the 12 tracks. To what extent does this mix of genres require a lot of steadfastness and self-confidence? So that everything fits together the way it does.

Fieh: „Thanks for saying that! Since the birth of this band, we have always idolized artists and bands who create very cohesive albums, albums that make you feel like you enter a brand new, specific sonic world when you put them on. That has been some kind of a mantra for us when creating albums – to create sonic worlds that feels like an entity, of course with a goal of still keeping every song interesting.“

You already had the goal of incorporating new sounds into your songwriting on your previous album. Is this something that continues to be a given for you or do you have to push yourself often to avoid falling back into simple patterns.

Fieh: „On one hand, falling into simple patterns can make music boring, and we try to avoid that, but on the other hand, simple patterns aren’t necessarily bad – I very often make bass riffs at the beginning of a song writing process, and distinct bass lines are often a feature in Fieh songs. However, it comes down to the sound of that bass line and the way it’s wrapped with other elements. You can always make a pretty boring bass line very cool, or a cool bass line very boring. So yeah, incorporating new sounds is what we are always looking for, I believe. We did that on the last album too, and that album took a quite different turn than this one, but the goal was always making interesting sounds.“

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