Norwegian artist Mörmaid presents Manicfest distinguished by its altered dreamlike vocals, electronic exploration, and a lively percussion filled groove. Read our discussion below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Eclectic (fittingly enough), ethereal, hypnotic
Could you elaborate on the significance of the title “Manicfest” and how it encapsulates the essence of the track?
The theme of the song touches on the trend of manifesting, which is to envision things you want to achieve or receive in order to get them. The ‘manic’ part of the equation lies in the music, with a fast paced beat, busy rhythms and euphoric synths and vocals. I wanted to convey a feeling of desperation and the intense urge to always climb higher, and never being content with your achievements. My experience is, this desperation can at times consume you and make you forget why you started on the path you’re on in the first place. Writing this song has, along with other events and conversations I’ve had recently, made me realise how important it is as a creative to protect your art and the initial spark that made you pursue it.
Your most honest and personal lyric?
That might be “You to Me” from my previous EP “Push Pull”. It’s about being close to someone that you see is struggling, but you are unable to truly help them. They are stuck in a bad pattern, and as we all know, at the end of the day you yourself have to acknowledge it to be able to fully break out of that pattern. The song is about watching from the sidelines, seeing someone you love never breaking free of their demons.
Can you elaborate on the specific musical influences that contribute to the sound of Mörmaid’s music?
That’s a lot! I guess I can trace it all the way back to my early teens, listening to trance and techno. Then I went away from that for a long time, listening to a lot of jazz, rock and indie. My background as a musician is in jazz and improvised music, and that has hugely influenced my sound. I also listened to a lot of prog rock a few years back, and was in a rock band for five years, and I believe that has affected my music as Mörmaid as well. I love unexpected changes and little surprises in a song or piece, and I also love a lot of variation between songs on an album, and I think that comes from there. Nowadays I listen to a lot of electronic music such as Grimes, Kelly Lee Owens, SOPHIE, Aphex Twin, Max Cooper and Jon Hopkins.
A song you would pay to hear for the first time again?
That’s a hard one, ‘cause there are so many! I remember being completely amazed when I heard SOPHIE’s “Faceshopping” for the first time, the production on that track is just so sick and out of this world, and hits you straight in the face. I guess that whole album I’d love to be able to hear again for the first time, to me it’s a masterpiece. I want to mention one more album actually, if I may. I heard “Diamond Mine” by Jon Hopkins and King Creosote for the first time on a train ride through Norway, and it is the most beautiful piece of music I think I’ve ever heard. It makes me cry every time I hear it! The symbiosis between the electronic and the acoustic feels perfect, and it’s incredibly heartfelt.
In which place or state of mind do you imagine people might listen to your music?
I guess I hope people are taking their time to listen. Nowadays it’s normal to just scroll through music and I think the way streaming platforms are constructed makes it hard to keep focus for long. I am saying this from my own experience as a listener – I’ve noticed that I get restless quickly and feel an urge to skip to the next song long before the one I’m listening to is finished. I’m basically not giving the music a proper chance to get to me. I also used to listen to a lot more albums before, and now I almost never do that, which makes me really sad actually. I hope, when people are listening to my music, that they stop for a second and allow themselves to get immersed in it and to stay in that space for a while without thinking about what to listen to next.
If the music of Mörmaid was a film, which film would that be?
I think it would be something like “Midsommar”, where there is a lot of beauty, colour and light but there is a disturbing darkness beneath it all. It’s one of my favourite films.
The cover art for “Manicfest” is a collaboration with AI. Can you delve into the decision-making process behind using AI for artistic expression and the conflicts you feel about it?
At first I was very sceptical of exploring AI in general, but for this song I found it made sense to try it out (I feel like pointing out though that I haven’t used AI in the music itself). Since the song is all about imagining and receiving, creating the cover art in that exact way was interesting to me. You basically type in what you want and make it appear in front of you in seconds. That said, it’s still early days, and the results you get can look quite weird and far away from what you have in mind. AI almost has it’s own aesthetic. I had a LOT of rounds with it altering my prompt with different key words and stuff before I got something I liked. My conflicts about it is partially the fact that it’s a much cheaper and quicker option than working with a real life artist. But honestly, after having tried it now, I’m not very worried that it’ll take over a lot of creative jobs (at least not at the moment). It has a lot of flaws, and at the end of the day I think we’ll always be drawn towards art that comes from a real human with experiences and emotions. I feel like there is so much to say on this topic, I could go on for ages! But these are at least some of my thoughts.
Thank you!
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