Fredrik Öhr Interview

Feb

2010

Articles | Interviews

Written by Evan M.

Fredrik Ohr is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Fredrik has a long background in classical piano and as a song writer. Fredrik studied Tibetan Buddhism, philosophy and language for many years, in India and Sweden. His music is a wonderful dreamy and fresh combination of North European atmospheres and textures interlaced with Asian influences, all dipped in 70s psychedelic delicate feel. He has already released few tracks on major labels such as Interchill & One World. His debut album, Falling through the Earth, was released in Aleph Zero in November, 2009.

Fredrik, thank you for taking the time with me, could you give us some details about who you are, where you come from.
I’m currently living in Stockholm with my wife and daughter. Born in 1975, originally from the north-west of Sweden, not too far from the Norwegian border.
My musical background, for a large part is from classical piano. I Began playing classical piano as a child and continued until my mid twenties, I have also played in various bands, usually with a bias towards the 70s progressive rock.
I took a few years of from piano/music between 1997-2001 and spent a lot of time in India studying Tibetan Buddhism. Religion has always been an interest of mine. Nowadays I don’t consider myself a religious person, but it’s a very interesting subject. fredrik ohr Studied Buddhist philosophy/epistemology, meditation and Tibetan language for about four years. Had a semi-serious plan to stay on as a translator, but in the end I got too homesick and returned home for good in 2001.
Back home I picked up music again. Bought some equipment and started experimenting a bit with electronic music. My first release was a track in 2003 on a comp called Green Instant (Clima Records) and a track called Return (which is included on the album) on Earth Octave Lounge II (Interchill Records) the following year, plus a few tracks on One World Music comps.
I think it was Stefan Lundaahl (A.K.A. Omnimotion) who first encouraged me to contact Shahar and Yaniv at Aleph Zero Records. I’m glad I did. I think their releases have been amazing right from the start. They’ve given me a lot of encouragement and useful feedback through the whole process of making this album.

What are your sources of inspiration when writing your music?
Music of course, listening to music usually gives a lot of important input. Just listened to Murcof. Completely brilliant music!
Uninterrupted time for creating music is one of the more important sources of inspiration. Being able to explore your ideas, even if they don’t necessarily result in anything is very important.
Musical “accidents” can be very inspirational. Things that weren’t meant to happen musically can give unexpected new impulses.
Art/painting is a great source of inspiration for me. Painting and music making seems closely related. I’m especially happy for the album artwork by Mr. Ryan Bubnis. He’s a really brilliant guy.

What equipment are you currently using? Any specific instruments included.
I mainly use Ableton Live and Propellerhead's Reason. Lately I’ve done some music in Propellereheads new Record also; seems very nice. One of the more frequent instruments on the album is the Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano. I really love the sound of this instrument, the mechanics, everything. I got it when I was about twelve years old. At the time it served as a table in a school classroom. No one had really used it for a long time. I could have it as long as I fixed transportation of it away from the school, I’ve had it since and used it quite a lot on the album.

You have a unique blend of Leftfield Jazz and Modern Classical in your style. Who are your biggest Jazz and Classical influences?
I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, I like Steve Reich a lot, Erik Satie, Autofant, Tape, King Crimson (especially the music they made in the early 1980's). Meredith Monk, Gavin Bryars. Kerry Minear of Gentle Giant, Kiyo Chaotech (he made a records called Odd Echo, I think. Completely fantastic album).

fredrik ohr You appear to have really come into yourself stylistically with the direction you have chosen, what other directions do you see yourself exploring or incorporating?
I think this album - Falling through the Earth - incorporates quite a lot of different elements/styles. It’s truly been a journey of sound discoveries for me putting it together. There are sounds on the album that I feel I’m not completely done with and would like to revisit on a possible follow up.

Is there a possibility of any collaborative albums with artists who’s styles harmonize with your own; and if so with whom?
Well, there’s nothing planned. But there are certainly people I’d like to work with. I’d like to continue exploring voices to a higher degree, would like to work more with singers, I think. That would be really exiting.

Are you writing another album currently, or have any plans to tour?
I’m writing songs and have a fairly clear idea of what I would like to do for a follow up.
Touring no, not at this point at least. We have talked about maybe putting together a band, but there’s no clear idea yet of what we would do with the music. Would be nice to experiment a bit, do something slightly different with the music if were to be performed live. If the experimenting turns out nice we might do some live performances.