We are pleased to offer you an interview with a band born as a live project in 2016 and which in May 2022 released the debut album of the same name, welcome to Soft Ffog.
First of all, how are you?
Great! Summer is more or less here in Norway, so enjoying long days and cold beer.
You are all musicians from other projects, how was this band born?
Well, i got commisioned by Kongsberg Jazzfestival to put together a band for the festival in 2016, i had the opportunity to gather musicians of my own liking. So i started searching. Axel the drummer was the first i called, my longtime partner in Krokofant and dear friend. And he is my favorite drummer, so that was a no brainer for me. Then it was a little back and forth, but eventually Nikolai Hængsle from Elephant9 recommended Trond, so he said yes to play bass. I knew him from the Band “Grand General” so i knew he was great. Erlend Slettevold who i also had heard from Grand General and various jazz outfits played keys originally in the band, he eventually quit, then Vegard joined just before we entered the studio.
Your sound is of Prog matrix with Jazz features, where does your passion for these sounds
come from?
I guess it ́s just a mashup of all things we are listening to, at least for my part. I had a dad with big collection of progrock albums, so i grown up with the stereo always on with all kinds of progressive music in the background. I later was really into jazz, tryin to learn to play all that stuff. Eventually got tired of it, still loving it, but not playing jazz so much more, focusing more on the progressiverock stuff
On May 27, 2022 you released your debut, how would you describe this album?
Jazz musicians trying to play in the style 70 ́s progressive rock
4 long tracks with elaborate plots and long solo passages, how does the creative process of
the songs take place?
The tracks are composed throughout, but we play the tunes with a more jazz kind of a approach Staying true to the the melody, chords and rythmic composition, but kind of playing around with it, So each song will sound a little different everytime we play them. As for the solos, we improvise them on the spot and just go for it.
Given your experience as a live band, do you have any plans to bring your album live?
Sure, working on it as we speak. A little startup difficulties after the pandemic. But we will play live soon.
Given the high quality of the music proposed, even though the album has recently been released, I was wondering if you had any plans for other releases in the future?
Sure, we have a bunch of new song we are taking to rehersals now, so we hope we can record them as soon as possible. Remember the songs on the album was composed in 2016, and recorded in 2020. So the music on the album is old to us in the band, so we feel the need to record to new music soon.
Compared to the past, music has evolved, how do you see the future of the Prog genre?
Difficult question, for a while now jazzmusic is turned in to more jazzrock, especally here in Norway, but now its seems to go in to a more traditional cantebury style, like the band “Needlepoint” (Amazing band by the way). But honestly i got no idea where “Prog” is going.
What advice would you give to a young band approaching more complex sounds like yours?
Use your ears, and try to compose music that feels good and sound “right” to you. Music should not be complex just to be complex. It will sound stiff. Make it feel organic. Remember our music does not feel complex to us when we play it, try make good melodies, that is what its all about.
I leave the last question free, to be able to talk about any topic not covered in the previous
ones.
I would like to thank Tor Einar Evju for the amazing cover art, Tor Einar made this painting for my dad in 1995, it was kind of made like a homage to the progrock aesthetic of the 70 ́s. I got this painting in my possession after my dad passed a couple of years ago. And i thought WOW that would be an amazing gatefold in an LP! And there you go, there it is! The original is hanging in my livingroom and is a cherished thing for me.
I thank Soft Ffog for the pleasant interview, wishing them the best for the continuation of
their career with both this and other projects.
Read our Review of the album here: https://progrockjournal.com/review-soft-ffog-soft-ffog/