Ihsahn: Far From Home

The ashes of the Norwegian Black Metal Scene have proven to be a hotbed for progressive music. ENSLAVED gradually diverged from the strictures of the style, and now blend together BATHORY and PINK FLOYD in equal measure. ULVER, meanwhile, have become positively unrecognisable in their incarnations as trip-hop, ambient and synth-pop aficionados. Once EMPEROR had left the studio for good, IHSAHN soon emerged as the solo project of Vegard ‘Ihsahn’ Tveitan.

The frontman and guitarist has earned himself a considerable following in his own right: reimagining the symphonic excesses of his old band with a more progressive approach, often adjacent to the avant-garde. Conceptually rich and enigmatic at every turn, IHSAHN explored war and conflict with his ‘A’ trilogy – The Adversary, angL and After – before turning to the provocative ideas and slow decline of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on Eremita and Das Seelenbrechen. Taken together, IHSAHN’s latest full-length albums, Arktis and Ámr, explore the duality of the outdoors and inside. Earlier this year, IHSAHN released the Telemark EP, which saw the EMPEROR frontman returning to a stripped-back black metal approach. Ahead of its September release, we spoke to Ihsahn about the homespun Telemark and outward-looking Pharos, IRON MAIDEN, and Bond themes.

We begin by discussing artwork. IHSAHN releases have always featured deliberate and symbolic uses of imagery: Telemark and Pharos are no exception. “For Telemark we collaborated with David Thiérrée, who came here to Telemark, and my wife [Heidi Tveitan, STAROFASH] sent him photographs of our surroundings here. He drew based on those, and drew individual drawings for each song.” Continuing, he explains, “Telemark is sung in Norwegian, and all the metaphors and stories are placed in this county, this environment, that I grew up in. Metaphors, images, and lyrics were all picked from within this environment. It goes back to the early black metal aesthetic,” he muses.

“Black and white, pencil drawings, and promo shots in traditional national costume. Everything was pointing in one direction, and everything was very close to home.” Turning to Pharos, Ihsahn elaborates: “This time we worked with Costin [Chioreanu] to do the same. He was sent the finished mix and with some guidelines, what it was all about. I really wanted this Pharos lighthouse on the front, but beyond that it was his interpretation.” The lighthouse of Alexandria, as the Pharos is also known, proves to be a vital symbol in understanding the direction IHSAHN takes on the new EP. “Pharos indicates journey and travel. So: musically, lyrically and visually, we did something that was looking outwards. It was more exploratory.” Reflectively, he continues: “Pharos is an interesting metaphor or symbol: this whole idea of having a very particular goal in life. It’s a beacon for people to get home, but it’s also a cold rock in the middle of the sea – a very solitary place. You can have a beacon in your life, or be a beacon for someone else.” He concludes: “I ended up with Pharos because it was considered one of the wonders of the world. It was an interesting focal point for the music.”

Discussion soon turns to early and informative aesthetic influences. “The visual aspect has always been important, particularly with IRON MAIDEN. My favourite IRON MAIDEN album is Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son: the icy landscapes on the cover, and the mythical imagery.” Enthusing he continues. “There’s definitely a narrative to that whole album. It’s rich in keyboards, and they were criticised for it at the time. For me, discovering IRON MAIDEN at that point spurred me to have keyboards in my music. It was one element larger, it was cinematic. To me, an album is not just a collection of songs. The way I experience IRON MAIDEN albums, or JUDAS PRIEST or KING DIAMOND albums: they are more than the sum of their parts. They are interconnected, and that’s how I approached making albums. Everything you sing about in the lyrics, the sound, the imagery, it should all come together. It shouldn’t be random. With these two EPs, it gave me an opportunity to be very specific in that regard.”

On the cinematic quality of music, it’s suggested that the bombastic title track to the Pharos EP could easily have been the theme to James Bond film. Delighted, Ihsahn tells us. “That would be a dream, to do a James Bond theme. I hardly think that will never happen, though. I love all the Bond themes. A-HA did one, of course. All the really old stuff too, [Shirley Bassey’s] Diamonds Are Forever and [Tom Jones’] Thunderball too, I think it was? The title track with jazzy horn sections, I love all that.” When asked if he had considered working as a soundtrack artist, he tells us he is “fascinated by the idea.” Passionately, he continues, “I love soundtracks, I think that’s probably obvious from the early EMPEROR days. My wife has been doing some soundtracks for film and it is a very interesting approach, but you have to put your ego aside and serve the story that’s being told. It’s a very different way of working. With TV series especially all the deadlines are usually very tight. It’s hard work. A new piece for an episode within a week? It’s not something you would do on the side, but I’d like to experience it at some point down the line.”

Returning to the matter at hand, we discuss the interconnection of the two EPs. “Even though Telemark and [Pharos] are musically and conceptually very different, the form is very much the same,” Ihsahn begins. “Three original songs, and two covers that in some way influenced the original songs. It was always thought out as a duality. I wanted to link this to the live shows we had planned. Originally, I was already booked to play the Telemark set at Inferno Festival this Easter but…” he sighs. “The idea was to do a live set with the Telemark material, as well as songs from my catalogue that share that aesthetic: a black metal orientated set. And then, with the Pharos EP, I was planning on doing an EU tour and doing a similar thing: having a setlist based around the more progressive and mellow elements of my catalogue It was a challenge to myself, and to make it more interesting for the people who come back to the shows. Now, it’s just two EPs.”

When asked about his choice of cover songs, Ihsahn spoke at length: “I picked the LENNY KRAVITZ and the IRON MAIDEN tracks because they were both supposed to represent that very raw energy. Take Rock And Roll Is Dead: even though it’s a rock song, and not a black metal song, the lyrics are about tasking the commercial aspects out of rock music, and making it pure again. Wrathchild? Youthful anger, and the sound: it’s all loud Marshall Amps, and it has all the aesthetics. It influenced how I wrote the original songs.” Turning to the Pharos cover tracks, Roads and Manhattan Skyline, he continues: “I wanted to pick songs which I’ve loved from way back, but which had the particular purpose of exploration. The two songs are very different. The PORTISHEAD is so minimalist and quiet, and that gives it this fragile edge. The arrangement is very sparse.” Now chuckling, he adds: “I have had this idea of being minimalist all along but somehow it never happens!” On his countrymen’s lesser-known hit, Ihsahn tells us: “That’s a larger than life pop song, but I’d argue that – with this song in particular – A-Ha are amazing song writers. [Manhattan Skyline] has intricate song writing: shifting time signatures and an ambiguous chorus. The pre-chorus is really rocking, and perfect for drop-D riffing, then there’s this melancholic top of the mountain style chorus. It has everything there is to love about eighties pop music.”

The EP is an interesting format, and one which IHSAHN has not experimented much with as a solo artist. “It’s a big chunk, to make an album. I was looking back, and quite consistently I’ve been releasing a full-length album every couple of years since I was sixteen, and now I’m forty-four. So, it was nice to do something else. My wife [Heidi Tveitan] challenged me to do something purely black metal again just as an experiment, and also to sing in Norwegian. That was the basis for the Telemark EP. For me, it would be too specific for an entire album to be like that. The folk elements in it are a very strong texture, and I wouldn’t find place for those in an album, but doing an EP lends itself to singling out those very particular elements: distilling out one element of my catalogue to the extreme. It’s the same thing with Pharos. Some parts on there are too poppy for me personally, but an EP for that purpose – in the short form – gives me an opportunity to explore, and to bring something back.”

Carrying on, we discuss how Telemark and Pharos have been received by the press. “I’ve been surprised by the reception the EPs have got. EPs never really seem to get much attention.” [Would it be fair to say the Taylor Swift furore had something to do with it?] “Yeah, what was all that about? Suddenly that was a big thing. David [Thiérrée] sent it to me, and I thought it was funny – then, I get peppered with comments like: ‘You don’t own black and white photography!’ I just had to get some popcorn and watch it unfold. It was all the media that never really covers the stuff I do. Suddenly people were calling me, Norwegian national press and so on. I told them I don’t want to comment on that! It’s totally irrelevant.”

To be sure, Pharos marks a significant break from IHSAHN’s black metal orientated sound. The EP features pop hooks, mellow vocals and soaring harmonies. Fans of progressive music can often feel as though their favourite artists are toying with them but, while that’s often part of the fun, in Ihsahn’s case, he tells us that it couldn’t be further from the truth. “People assume I’m just testing my audience when I write, almost in a provocative way. It’s never about that,” he reassures us. “The idea is just to put myself in new situations where I’m excited about making new music. That’s my only motivation for these new musical experiences: I’m lucky enough that people want to hear it.” Thoughtfully, he continues. “People can expect anything. If people don’t like it, that’s fair enough. Maybe the next one will be? I think if I owe my audience anything, it’s to be uncompromising, truthful and enthusiastic about my music. If I cut corners now, and started cynically targeting markets or the press, I’d be doing a disservice to myself and fans of underground music. You don’t start playing black metal to have a career: at least, not in 1991!”

Pharos is out now via Candlelight Records. 

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