Dear Readers we have the pleasure to offer you in this article an interview with a prolific Scandinavian band with a new album out. We welcome Øresund Space Collective.
Hello, how are you?
DR SPACE: “Busy… the weather has been so strange this year, but I am working on music all the time…“
Jonathan Segel: “Fine thank you. My name is Jonathan Segel.“
What is the meaning of the name of your band Øresund Space Collective?
DR SPACE: “Øresund is the name of the body of water between Denmark and Sweden. The band started off as a series of jam sessions in Malmö, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark and we could cross the Øresund bridge… When we decided what we were doing was cool, we needed a name as it was different people every session, it was better to call it a collective.“
Your sound mixes elements of Prog, Jazz and Space Rock among others, where does your passion for these sounds come from?
DR SPACE: “All the players in the band are not only awesome musicians but passionate fans of a wide range of music and styles. I personally listen to all kinds of music from Afrobeat, Miles Davis, GONG, Hawkwind, old school metal, Black Sabbath, Tangerine Dream, Ravi Shankar, etc.“
Jonathan Segel: “Each member brings their own listening background, of course. If you’re a musician, everything you hear becomes part of your vocabulary. The different players on this album are each bringing their different backgrounds to the studio, so it mixes up in the music, always.“
What are your main sources of inspiration?
DR SPACE: “Life and what is happening around me and when I make music, those in the room that I am interacting with to create something new and exciting as our music is totally improvised.“
Jonathan Segel: “I think that every artist is a filter of what they see and hear in the world around them, be it music, art, nature, politics, whatever. So, each player has their own set of inspirations that come to the table— though I would say that all of us are inspired by listening to music of a variety of styles.“
Your new album “Orgone Unicorn“ is due out in July 2024, how would you describe this work?
DR SPACE: “I think the album is quite diverse and eclectic. Totally different from our last studio album, Everyone is Evil or Espaço.“
Jonathan Segel: “This album is made of several tracks each one with different players in the room, all made over the course of a week. Some are the normal guitar/bass/drums plus Scott on synths, some are almost entirely synths of various sorts, some have sitar as the guiding tonality, one even has a drum machine as the rhythmic track! So, it’s a number of facets of the possibilities that this particular band of musicians were able to accomplish.“
7 long tracks spread over 2 discs, what are the themes developed within this new work?
DR SPACE: “It starts off with a Tangle Edge inspired piece (also features all 3 of the members of the current Tangle Edge), we have sitar driven prog, weird electronic experiments (Eno´s Donut), electrogroove space rock (Omina Magnifico), Krautrock inspired (Kraut Toe Trip)… so it is a diverse album. I am very pleased with the sound and music.“
Jonathan Segel: “I’m not certain if you mean musical themes, but there are definitely melodic or modal ideas being presented. Skin Walker, for example, is based on a modal bass line so it gives the guitar a specific set of tones to work with, similarly the Orgone Unicorn is based on scales from the sitar. Eno’s Donut lays out a sequence from a synthesizer for the other musicians to work with.“
Long instrumental textures full of cues and phrasing between the various instruments, how does the creative process of your music take place?
DR SPACE: “In recent years, we all gather at my house and studio in Portugal, maybe have a small discussion of what style or what we might try to achieve musically, choose a key to play in and then off we go. It is all recorded live with no overdubs. We might remove some stuff or fix a bad note here and there but it is essentially the same as if you were in the room when we recorded it, what you hear on the record.“
Jonathan Segel: “In the moment, we hear and respond to what is happening in the studio room. These are all live improvisations.“
Your music performs well in live performances, do you have plans in this regard for the near future?
DR SPACE: “Ever since covid, it has become quite expensive and difficult to arrange tours. So, we play the Spaceboat in Hamburg, Germany every May and a few gigs here and there but there have been no tours since 2019. April 2025, we will have a 2-day 20th Anniversary celebration at Stengade in Copenhagen. It will also be the 10th anniversary spaceboat in Hamburg.“
Jonathan Segel: “We just played a show at the Thy Lejren festival in Jylland in Denmark, that will probably happen again next summer! There’s a 20th anniversary set of concerts happening next spring, and of course the Space Boat in Hamburg.”
You have released over 40 albums since your formation, how has your sound evolved over time?
DR SPACE: “The band is totally different people except myself these days and I am bringing in new musicians all the time, so this helps to make our sound evolve more. We are also aware of our legacy and past and keen to try new ideas and be constantly moving forward.“
Jonathan Segel: “Different people make it different. I’ve been recording with the band since 2014 and playing maybe 75% of the shows. When I’m there, you get some violin mixed in with the style of guitar playing that I can provide, which is different from other players. each their own thing.“
Music is constantly evolving; how do you see today’s scene in your genre?
DR SPACE: “Space Rock, prog, whatever box people want to put us in, seeing as it is all instrumental and all improvised and we continue to improve on our instruments, get new synths and different instruments and players (who each bring their own unique talents), I think we will continue to grow and explore new musical territory. We never tried jams with drum machines and all 4 were really cool.“
Jonathan Segel: “Not sure exactly. I love recording music, and recorded music, but a lot of that is being taken over or replaced by samples or AI constructed sound. We have the unique advantage of being human improvisers that work well together, which means that each performance will be its own thing. I guess it’s important for those that feel the need for a human element in the music they listen to, to hear actual people moving their limbs to make sounds in the moment.“
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with more elaborate sounds like yours?
DR SPACE: “Practice your instrument as much as you can, surround yourself with creative people, do not be afraid to try new things and always push yourself. Listen to the people around you closely when playing. HAVE FUN…“
Jonathan Segel: “Just do what you would be interested in listening to, don’t worry about perception of expectation or how you understand others’ aesthetics, just make music that you want to listen to.“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside music?
DR SPACE: “I collect craft beer labels, vinyl records and CDs, I love to garden and grow chiles and cook spicy food but most of my life is consumed by music.“
Jonathan Segel: “I do a lot of music, a lot of different kinds of stuff outside of ØSC, and indeed I spend
most of my time working on music. I do enjoy painting and writing as well, you can see on my website or
blog. http://www.JonathanSegel.com, http://JSegel.wordpress.com, http://JSegel.bandcamp.com“
I thank Øresund Space Collective for the interview, wishing them all the best for the release of their album
and the continuation of their artistic career.
Pre-Order their new album on Bandcamp: https://lasersedge.bandcamp.com/album/orgone-unicorn
