In a music scene often lacking in creativity, imagination and innovation, Nordic Giants are a true revelation, an all-encompassing auditory and visual experience that can not fail to leave an impression. Their live shows, a heady, breath-taking mix of emotionally-charged, cinematic post-rock and specially commissioned short films with Hollywood production values, are magnificent displays that astound, delight and inspire. The duo's latest album, the soundtrack to their forthcoming short documentary film Amplify Human Vibration, is a stirring and captivating exploration of the human spirit, released on Friday 20th October, but you can listen to it now, exclusively with The Independent.

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Amplify Human Vibration sets out to explore the very best of human nature and create an opposing narrative to the one often presented by the world's news media. It's an impassioned plea to humankind to focus on the positive aspects of our existence, lest the negatives become all-consuming. It is particularly pertinent in a world that is undergoing such turbulent changes; Amplify Human Vibrations is the band's attempt to bring light to the positive changes that people are making, to explore the kindness and drive of humanity.

Like much of the band's previous music, the soundtrack employs the use of inspirational quotes and samples to get its message across. The words of luminaries such as Martin Luther King, John Trundell, Terrance McKenna and Alan Watts are used to spread a message of hope, tolerance and optimism. The band will deliver that message far and wide on the Amplify Human Vibration European tour, where they will play almost 30 dates across the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Spain, Czech Republic & Poland.

Rôka & Löki, the two enigmas behind Nordic Giants, provided us with an exclusive essay about the making of the film, the soundtrack and intent behind the project.

Amplify Human Vibration

An essay by Rôka & Löki

When it comes to Nordic Giants, we love to keep pushing ourselves with new concepts, themes and live set-ups, but explaining what we do can be a bit of a challenge at the best of times. With masks, visuals, lights, smoke and the ambiance created, our releases tend to follow the same path. These are often hard to explain or understand at first glance, with no real set structure on how we do things, but the freedom to experiment.

The Amplify Human Vibration project started with the idea for a film; we wanted to create something uplifting to show that every person can make a positive impact on the world, no matter how small and to simply remind everyone the true power each of us have, especially when we all unite together as one.

Rôka (Ed Sprake)

“It’s really up to us now, because it’s not an option anymore – it’s a necessity!”

Miguel Amortegui – from the Amplify Human Vibration film

The film was shot and directed by us, without a mask or instrument in sight. We travelled the country, camped on beaches and slept on floors, personally searching and meeting inspiring people from all walks of life including some of our fans. Although we did all the hard work behind the scenes, the film is really not about Nordic Giants in any way. The film is about really down to earth people, doing what they love and trying to make a difference – it really is as simple as that!

Musically we have always linked our music to film, but when we started to experiment with the soundtrack for the film in the early stages, it was nothing like the final release. The original music consisted of shorter instrumental tracks using mainly piano, synths and bowed guitar, much like a more traditional soundtrack, but as we were writing and shooting the film at the same time, they both became intertwined. The underlying message of the film became embedded in music and the energy and emotion of the music started to mould the film.

The speeches take more of a role in this release than in our previous work. Not everyone will connect with the film or even get the chance to see it or a live show. For some people, music is the only way they might ever connect and resonate with a message, so as the songs developed it was important that the soundtrack stood alone as a piece by itself. With the right balance of energy, emotion and dynamics intertwined with strong narrative to help awaken the mass collective consciousness of the planet and also to inspire a positive change.

The choice of featured speakers was not taken lightly but came down to a mix of different themes, ideas and views as well as different ages, countries and backgrounds. Everyone has a different perception of reality and a distinct perspective on the meaning of our existence as a species. We wanted to touch upon deeper questions than we have done in previous releases and link the themes directly with the film for more impact.

Some of the questions touched upon, or perceived by the listener may include: Why are we here on this planet? Are we heading in the right direction as a race? Does consciousness exist after death? Do we live in an illusory world simply going through day-to-day business as usual motions? Have we forgotten who we really are and the power that resides in every single living soul?

Touching on these kind of subjects, especially within music, is quite a risky move, even for a project as different as Nordic Giants. Everyone is at different levels of their lives and everybody has their own views and beliefs, so the balance of information was crafted as best we could to give food for thought, but also leaving a lot up to interpretation by the listener.

The title came from the motion that everything in our universe is made up of energy and vibration at the molecular level. Our thoughts create, our emotions amplify and our actions increase the momentum, so it’s really up to each of us to amplify our own strengths and not our weaknesses, to become less divided by religions, colour, or the country we were born in. To shed our egos and embrace the shift that is happening. Despite the fear led narrative we are made to swallow daily, there is so much positivity that needs to be amplified!

Löki (Magda Wrzeszcz)

“Stop engaging in energy that dumbs us down and numbs us out”

M.J Robertson - from the Amplify Human Vibration film

The soundtrack starts with the message “We’re not going to go silently into the gentle night” (Terence McKenna). As a collective, we often tend to ignore real truths for temporary happiness, but the decision for change will always come down to us as individuals, not any government, corporation, religion or beyond. That’s why even though some of the speech samples may be decades old, they are still relevant now and will always resonate with every generation until we take our stand in a peaceful way.

Amplify Human Vibration can be interpreted in any way, shape or form; that’s the true beauty of music. It can be someone’s therapy on a bad day or it can be the soundtrack to a quiet moment, however you want to use is up to you!

Our brief final message would be: Go where you feel most alive and do what you truly love... The time to act is not tomorrow – but today.

Rôka & Löki x