Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with a Norwegian band with a Progressive Rock sound with different nuances and atmospheres. We welcome Kosmodome.
Hi, how are you?
“We are doing quite alright and are of course excited, and a little nervous, ahead of the album release.“
How did the idea of starting the band come about and what does the name Kosmodome mean?”
“We are brothers with a 4 year age gap and have always played together, but it wasn’t until 2016/2017 when Sturle finished music school in Liverpool that we finally lived at the same place (Bergen, Norway). Severin, who’s the oldest of us, has had other band projects in Bergen before that and simultaneously with Kosmodome, such as Slomosa (2016-2020).
In Bergen we could play together regularly and start working on our old demos made at home in a âdrum houseâ in the backyard where we grew up. Our oldest demos go back to 2010 when Sturle was still a teenager and none of us were comfortable singing. We would jam and write bizarre rock songs when we were both home for holidays, but thankfully we never performed any of it live. We only uploaded them to Soundcloud and created some demos in Pro Tools.
We âassembledâ the first version of the band with Morten Olsen, a great guitarist Sturle knew from Trøndertun Folk High School and Benjamin Berdous played bass (best known as the frontman in Slomosa). Our first proper gig was at the end of 2017 when we felt ready and tight enough. We played in different venues in Bergen up until covid. During lockdown we started recording our debut album, which would probably just have been an EP if it wasn’t for the pandemic giving us that push to finish more songs.
Kosmodome was actually a word/name we put together in 2020 and found suitable for our psychedelic and progressive sound and could be a symbol of our musical world âinsideâ the Kosmodome. It suits because it sounds large and it can encompass many different elements which we feel our music does. We will not elaborate on the older band names⌓
You offer a Progressive Rock sound with forays into Psychedelia and more, how did your passion for these sounds come about?
“We listened to all types of music genres growing up thanks to our parents’ collection and our older brother giving us âthe bestâ music from every decade and a wide arrange of genres. Our father showed us Frank Zappa and the best rock, folk rock, jazz rock and so on from the 60s and up.
While jamming just the two of us the psychedelic and stoner sound would maybe help fill the gap of missing instruments (such as bass and keyboard). The jamming of riffs and different grooves have always been at the core of our song writing. Some riffs sound good straight away, some need to be put away and played again with a new approach some months or even years later.
We have never really listened to the classic prog rock bands, and find many of them over the top and pretentious.“
The new album âAd Undasâ will be released on October 11, 2024, how would you describe this new work?
“This album stays in the same sonic landscape as our debut. We have worked with our great producer Eirik Marinius Sandvik again. We worked with him in 2018 for our self-released EP and in 2020 with our debut album. This time we knew what to avoid and how to work even better together. We had stronger demos than we had before recording the debut.
We know that we are taking some more risks and that this album is âsofterâ in certain parts, but still feel that there is a lot of aggressiveness and heaviness throughout. One of the goals was to create more dynamic contrasts and space than we did with the debut album, and we are happy with the result!“
The album consists of 6 long, elaborate tracks, is there a theme that characterises the album?
“Ad Undas means âto the wavesâ in Latin, but in Norway the expression has also been used as an expression when âeverything goes to hellâ. So, the feeling that the state of the world is so uncertain and the future can seem very scary is what lies as a thematic backdrop.
The album has a common thread of battling a dystopic outlook on the world, where some songs are more personal than the ones with more societal commentary.“
Long elaborate textures characterise your music, how does the creative process of your tracks take place?
“Most of the time it is music first, and lyrics afterwards. Sometimes we end up with long parts and build ups, but that is mostly because we like staying in a mode while playing it. Moving too fast between one texture to another is hectic and less pleasing or exciting to listen to in our opinion. Because the songwriting is so much built on jamming, riffs, and ostinatos rather than standard chord progressions f.ex. we end up with longer parts and âextra partsâ to the songs that we feel fit and are fun(!) to play. Maybe we think of the songs as compositions more than a standard song and therefore don’t always follow overused pop structures of modern songwriting. It is not a goal to write long songs, but we like transitions and developing ideas and bringing listeners on a journey.“
Being a duo, will there be a chance to hear your music live in the near future?
“We are a duo as songwriters and in the studio, but not on stage. Live we bring with us the fantastic guitarist Erlend Nord (joined in 2021) and experienced bassist Ole-Andreas Jensen (joined in 2024) who replaced the energetic Magnus Magnussen (2021-2023). We have 3 shows planned in Norway in October, but hope to get a chance to play in Germany next year when people have heard the new music. We will have a release gig in the small municipality where we grew up on the 12th of octoberand in the very cool Landmark stage on October 17th. We will also play in Oslo at the Høstsabbat Festival 24/25th of October.“
How has your sound evolved in this album compared to the debut?
“Compared to the Kosmodome album we think that it still sounds big and shows listeners what else lies in our musical world (inside the Kosmodome). We have been more conscious about dynamics and bigger contrasts within the songs and hope that our listeners are ready for this. Also, we have avoided using too many layered guitars giving the sound more clarity in our opinion. We try to avoid using synths/keyboard, but rather create the noise and effects with guitar pedals.”
Music is constantly evolving, how do you see today’s trail in your country and more generally in the Progressive Rock scene?
“First off, we are probably lucky to live in this day and age in terms of technology. I highly doubt we could be discovered outside of our country without Social Media and streaming platforms. We keep our eyes and ears open for new exciting bands and feel we are part of a generation that bypasses genre expectations (be it young jazz-musicians or young rock musicians). Norway is a small country and the scene for those placed in niches is not huge. Our first record label Karisma Records has helped us and similar niche bands a huge deal!
We would not call ourselves experts on the scenes in Norway, but it is very easy to find great bands these days if you know how to look for them. Checking out âsimilar bandsâ on streaming platforms is an underrated way to discover a new favourite band.“
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music in a more sophisticated genre such as yours?
“For us it has been important to have complete control over the song writing, but also to work with a producer that shares our taste and knows our main references in terms of sound. That way you can find your sound with(!) a producer that knows where you are coming from and importantly helps with arranging. Rearrangements can save a mediocre song and make it great!
Since you know that you already make less âradio friendlyâ music you do not need to compromise. Of course, they should dare to show demos and early mixes to people to get feedback like any other young artist. Oh, and remember to record ideas straight away and keep them for a rainy day if they don’t end up in a song straight away.”
As musicians you give a lot to your fans, what has music given and what does it give to you?
“We are not in it for the money, so the biggest upside for us is that at least some other people like it (or in some cases love it). The joy of sharing self made music is for us much more valuable than playing covers, at least when the feedback is as positive as it has been. Seeing someone sing along to a song or just get carried away by our music is very humbling and fun to experience. It means a lot when people want to talk to us and buy vinyls and merch after gigs!“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside music?
“Well, we are for sure not living a ârock ‘n’ rollâ lifestyle; Sturle works as a primary school teacher and Severin works as a kindergarten teacher, so we are of course passionate about our jobs and working with children. We both have steady girlfriends
Other than that we love cuddling with cats, hiking in the mountains, swimming in our local fjords, playing squash and croquet in our parents’ garden and kicking a football around.”
I thank Kosmodome for the interview and wish them all the best for the release of their new album and the continuation of their artistic career.
Pre-Order their upcoming new album “Ad Undas” on Bandcamp: https://kosmodome.bandcamp.com/album/ad-undas
Read our Review of their self-titled album here: [Review] Kosmodome â Kosmodome
