today, our little chat is with carl and axel, two boys from sweden making songs with guitars, reverberations and electronics under the (awesome) name television keeps us apart. people may compare them with the radio dept, but honestly, even though sometimes it's easier to use comparisons, i think they tend to reduce the universe of each band.
but let's talk about the band.
think about nostalgia and sometimes naivety (in tracks like the amazing 'parents house in '99'). the melodic and calmer moments are suddenly broken by heavy guitars, and they go very, very well with your favorite headphones.
after the interview, you can download their album 'a slight change of light'...
let's see what axel and carl have to say...
01. from the begining: when the project started and where does the name come from?
a: television keeps us apart started in the spring of 2006. me and carl had met only six months earlier when we both moved to a new town for university studies. we both left our old bands behind and of abstinence we started television keeps us apart.
c: the problem in the beginning was that we didn't know any people who played music, so we had to use electronic beats and synthesizers to get a band together and neither of us had used these kinds of instruments before. this resulted in a couple of lame disco/pop songs, and if it weren't for an offer to perform in scotland we probably never had made another song together.
a: the trip to scotland made us realize that this was something we wanted to keep doing. so we started to write some real songs when we got back to sweden. it took us quite a while to merge the music that we compose, which often contains a lot of guitars, with the beats and synthesizers we still are forced to work with. because of this our album 'a slight change of light' wasn't released until the summer of 2009. the songs on the album are actually the first songs that we are happy with.
02. what populates your universe?
guitars reverb distortion organs
03. you're album ‘a slight change of light’ is available for free download. what's your opinion on music distribution nowadays?
a: i like record-sleeves, books and artwork. that's why I personally like records, but the most important thing when it comes to music distribution is that people who have a real interest in our music can hear it. how they get a hold of it is not that important to us.
c: and since we have no economic motives for doing music it is an easy decision to put the songs up for free download. the downside is that people miss out on the album artwork which is portraits of me and axel, oil on canvas.
c: the radio dept is one of many bands we get compared to. people often also mention jesus and mary chain, suicide, postal service and interpol. it's always hard to describe sounds in words and i guess comparing bands with each other is the easy way out for the reviewer. we don't get too upset about it since all those bands are really good.
05. i think 'parents house in '99' and 'the constant difference of our parallel lives' are perfect songs. they have this depth both in sound and lyrics. could you talk about this two songs in particular?
a: "parents house in ‘99" is a nostalgic song. ’99 was easier times or at least it feels like it sometimes now when you look back.
c: "the constant difference of our parallel lives": the psychological distance between two people who live their lives in the same pace will always be the same.
a: one of them needs to slow down or the other one to speed up if they want to get closer to each other.
06. what's next for the band? new songs coming soon?
a: we are constantly working on new songs and new recordings. hopefully a new ep will be released this summer.
07. any song you'd like to cover?
a: pedro the lion – rapture
08. recommend something you've been listening lately...
a: youngfuck. awesome band from gothenbourg, sweden. and handsome furs. always.
c: silverbullit - another great swedish band, and velvet underground is always present.
09. anything else you feel like saying? our album ‘a slight change of light' is available for free download at lit de parade.
01. voices
02. parents house in '99
03. i hate my friends
04. the constant difference of our parallel lives
05. pounding hearts/ pounding machines
06. can't let go
you can also download the album on lit de parade.
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