Swedish Evigt Mörker‘s sound is aptly described as “blissfully psychedelic, carefully structured for the most subtly disorientating shifts, hovering amongst a wholesome grasp on the purpose and consequence of melody”. Besides mainly releasing his music under his own “Evigt Mörker” imprint, the artist has formed a strong relationship with Anthony Linell’s Northern Electronics.

On September 27th Evigt Mörker returned to the label with his debut album “Krona” that, according to the artist, is naturally connected with his former “Total Makt EP”, also released on Northern Electronics. Monument’s Paula Koski had a chat with the artist about the making and inspiration of his album, as well as about his connection with Northern Electronics.

Hey Karl! Congratulations for your debut album, it’s fantastic! Is there a certain inspiration, or conceptual framework behind “Krona”?

“Thank you Paula. I feel that there is a natural connection to my last EP on NE “Total Makt”. The music there dealt with the concept of losing control, obedience and powerlessness. On ‘Krona’ I try to take control and conquer everything.”

You have been releasing your music since 2014. What’s the motivation behind releasing your first full-length album just now?

“The motivation was that I had tracks that were good enough basically. I’ve scrapped 2-3 ideas for an album before, going so far as to having all the tracks ready for mastering before realizing the concept didn’t work out or the tracks weren’t good enough. It feels good to finally be able to release a full-length album, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.”

When listening your earlier works from melodic “Högre” and “Epikles”, and then listening “Krona”, I sense your sound developing towards heavier, energetic, psychedelic and “punching” soundscapes. How would you yourself describe the development of your sound?

“I think there are two key aspects when it comes to the development of my sound. One is my need to try to push my sound forward all the time. I get bored easily, so it has never been an option for me to stagnate, I have to try to do something new. At the same time, I like the frameworks that exist within techno, so I try to experiment within these frameworks. It is difficult and I do not know if I succeed at all times but that is up for others to decide.

The other aspect is that at the beginning of my career I did not do any gigs, it came later and in connection with that the dance floor came to be an ever greater source of inspiration. It wasn’t really like that in the beginning, I mostly did music for myself. So as I got more gigs, a lot of my music became more dance floor oriented. A natural progression I think.”

In a previous interview you said you got slightly bored of expressing emotions through melodic sounds, and instead you are more interested of conveying emotions without melodies. What kind of emotions you wanted to express with “Krona”?

“That connects to what I mentioned before, the need I have to challenge myself and do something new. I still try to convey emotions in a different manner now, regarding what kind of emotions ‘Krona’ expresses I leave that up to the listener to decide.”

“Krona” features in total of nine tracks from trippy and powerful “Fulländad Värld”, “Frihet” and “Etisk Piska” to all ambient cuts “Erövring, Krona” and “Kvävd”. Do you want to give a shout-out to some tracks that are specially important for you, or does something come with an interesting detail we should know about?

“‘Kvävd’ went through a lot of different stages, I struggled a lot with it. At first it was completely dissonant but it needed some balance to it. It took some time but eventually it turned out as I wanted it to. I can mention ‘Frihet’ also, that was the final track that made it to the album. I think it glues everything together nicely. But of course I have special feelings towards all the tracks on the album.”

Could you describe the timeline of making this album? Was it cooking for a long time?

“I finished the album at the end of last year, but I’ve had sketches for some of the tracks for a long time. And as I said before, I’ve been wanting to do a full length album for a long time now so yes, it’s been cooking for a long time.”

How is your workflow in the studio?

“Its difficult to define a certain workflow but what I can say is that for me techno is about capturing energy so I find that if I overthink something it usually doesn’t turn out good. So I try to quickly make a good foundation and then I usually have something that I can spend time to perfect. But my workflow changes a lot. ”

What kind of setup you have in your studio, do you have current favourite tools?

“It’s always changing as well. What matters most to me is that I find the instrument/tool inspiring and intuitive, that it spurs creativity and experimentation. If that tool is software or hardware based means absolutely nothing to me.”

The first three EP’s you released under your own label “Evigt Mörker”, followed by “Helmet of Bones EP” on Semantica. After that you returned once more on Evigt Mörker, all the following releases have been on Northern Electronics. How did you get signed to NE?

“I met Anthony in 2014, we started talking and he had heard some music I’d made under a different name. So we started corresponding and sending each other music. When he began to plan the “Scandinavian Swords II” release, he asked me for some tracks. I sent him “Tom Himmel” and it just kind of worked from there.”

You seem to have become a staple in the Northern Electronics catalogue. How do you work with Anthony Linell when working on your releases that come out on NE? Both based in Stockholm, you must known each other for longer time already.

“Anthony is a joy to work with. He is honest and a great sounding board but he is also careful to emphasize that you have the last word. There is an incredibly open minded atmosphere at NE, they are up for basically anything. It’s very inspiring.”

You launched “Evigt Mörker” label to be an output for your own music. Are you planning on continuing with the imprint, or are you now loyal to Northern Electronics?

“There are plans yes. When and if they can be materialized remains to be seen.”

I am still thinking about your extraordinary performance at Orbits festival last year. First you played a live set, focusing on ambient, followed by a dance-floor-melting DJ-set. It was fresh. Is this your preferred way of performing? If not, what is?

“Thank you, that was an extraordinary night for me too. I don’t play like that often, it’s usually one or the other and I kind of like to keep them separated. But on that night it really worked, it was probably due to the crowd being very open minded and responsive. A great memory for me. ”

Who would you consider as your greatest musical influencers or inspirations?

“Kraftwerk and Drexciya.”

How does your future plans look like? Are you already working on new music, are you having a creative break or something else?

“No I can’t take a break from making music, it’s impossible. I’m always working on new stuff. So apart from doing the odd gig now and then I will lock myself in the studio and continue to create.”

Thank you for the interview ! Is there something else you would like to tell?

“Thank for your questions Paula, and thank you Monument for your support for my new record.”