Interview: Aiming for Enrike, ArcTanGent Festival
Aiming for Enrike by Carl Battams
This month we got to venture to the hills of Somerset for ArcTanGent, the go-to UK festival for math rock, post rock, progressive metal and experimental music. The best bit of any show and especially a festival is the opportunity to find new and new-to-us music. The stuff you maybe wouldn’t come across in your day-to-day, but when the sounds emanating from a tent in a field hits your ears, it draws you into an other worldly experience. This year, Aiming for Enrike is that music for me.
Since 2012, the Oslo duo has been creating energetic soundscapes, gaining popularity for frenetic and engaging live shows. But their latest album, Empty Airports, released in January of this year marks a noticeable tonal shift.
Revisiting their music history of five full-length albums, it’s easy to see a natural progression and draw a line from beginning to where they are sonically today. Consistently throughout, I find an immensely talented duo, organically building multi-layer tunes that take listeners on a journey. I don’t know how they do it, but in the midst of a complex musical landscape each song shares a clear narrative that sounds like far more than a couple of guys with a loop pedal.
We had the opportunity to speak with the duo, comprised of Simen Følstad Nilsen (guitar/synth) and Tobias Ørnes Andersen (drums) about their sound, influences and what’s coming next.
Aiming for Enrike, thank you for taking time with us today. To get us going, can you tell us a bit about your sound and what you’re doing?
Simen Følstad Nilsen (SFN): We’re a drum and guitar duo from Oslo, who recently got into synths as well. We sound like we’re more people than just two people. We started out playing math rocky inspired stuff and now we’ve moved into more electronica sounds.
You had an album out in January and it was tonally a big shift for you. Can you tell us about that?
Tobias Ørnes Andersen (TOA): I think over the years, we got more into electronic music naturally. We made that album during COVID which kind of shaped the music a bit. It was more minimalistic, longer songs and not so aggressive. Much more mellow sounding. And we added the synths and drum machines, that was also new.
Aiming for Enrike by Carl Battams
I’ve heard that you put on “wild and frenetic shows”, but I gotta say, I watched the Live from Artilleriverkstedet videos and I did wonder a bit that it’s maybe not so wild?
(TOA): Ha yeah now some parts are wild and some parts are more mellow.
(SFN): Musically wild.
(TOA): It's not very wild. It's not like we're jumping and doing stuff.
(SFN): We have too much to do, to do anything else than play.
What was it that got you started exploring this new space?
(SFN): I think for me, it's good music to listen to when you're touring. Music that lasts for long stretches and moves slowly is really good for long drives and things like that. And I started listening to that style more and more.
We both like all kinds of music. But we’ve done many things in the more aggressive, loud, energetic style and we just wanted to try something else.
You had the album out in January, what else have you been up to this year?
(TOA): We toured for two months after their release in Europe and Scandinavia. That was pretty good. And when we are in Norway we do different projects as musicians in different style, Simen is an engineer and records and mixes many bands. So we keep ourselves busy also outside of this project.
Aiming for Enrike by Carl Battams
Having many different projects going at once I would imagine gives a lot of inspiration for each one. Do you think it influences or informs the way this project sounds?
(SFN): Definitely. I think they inform each other in a pretty good way. You can always learn something from a punk band or a pop group or something. There's always stuff to learn.
If I were to pursue every type of music that I like in one band, that band would be…pretty shit I guess. Sorry. It's good to focus on one specific thing or sound.
I wonder, with the ambient sound and not having lyrics in the music, there’s not such an obvious message people can grab onto. Do you think you’re trying to say anything in particular with your music?
(SFN): Not really. It's very pure. In a way, it's like a space for zoning out and just contemplating whatever's on your mind. I think it's a very good backdrop for that. It is for me at least when I listen to other artists.
I definitely get that. There’s this one particular Caspian record that, anytime I have to go into London, afterwards this one record is the only auditory input I can consume.
(SFN): We actually played with Caspian in Barcelona. And I think that's the best post-rock band I've ever seen. It's really really good
Aiming for Enrike by Carl Battams
Yeah I absolutely agree. So for anyone who's coming on to your music for the first time, is there anything you’d like them to take away from listening?
(SFN): It's hard to say. I hope they like it. But I don't think that's always such a good thing to think about. Thinking too much about what other people think can restrict the creative process. You don’t want to be too worried if what you’re doing is right or “good enough” for different types of people. It’s better to just trust yourself and hope people will like it.
I’ve got to end on a lighthearted note. If you were in a coma and only one song could wake you up, what would that song be?
(SFN): Wake me up inside by Evanescence. Very direct. That's my choice.
(TOA): The Disturbed song maybe?
(SFN): Down With The Sickness?
(SFN): Yes
(SFN): *imitates the intro* Yeah, that would be a wake up call.
What did we say ours were? Thom’s is “Bodies” by Drowning Pool.
(SFN): Oh, yeah, so everybody is like that era, that genre.
I dont know, I’m pretty sure mine is still Shania Twain, “Man I Feel Like A Woman”.
(SFN): Yeah that’s a really good song. I actually like that song 100% now. I used to think it was stupid but now I realise that it’s a great song.
It is a great song. I was my first CD, no shame. I was living in Texas at the time, it’s like non-negotiable.
(SFN): I play in a country band too and we listen to that song before we go on stage.
Sick, love it. So what’s on the horizon after ArcTanGent?
(SFN): After this I think we're gonna work on some live recordings that we did on this tour. Maybe release a live record. And then maybe start making new stuff. We have already started on some new music so we’ll keep working on that. And we have a couple of tours coming up, that aren’t quite finalised yet, but we’ll be touring.
Huge thanks to Aiming for Enrike for taking time to chat with us. Stream their latest album, Empty Airports and stay tuned with us for touring and new release news.
