INTRODUCING: Grant The Sun
Norway has always had a pedigree of musical talent within its people. From every inclination, you can’t escape good musicians here. Three-piece GRANT THE SUN are one of those high achievers, leaning into the progressive, post metal sounds. We caught up with drummer Håvard Sveberg about their differing musical backgrounds, the joy of writing together and the many layers of their debut album, Voyage.
The band have a winning formula already, having released several EP’s and having many years of honing in their skills and ideas. Their groove laden style of metal has both complex technicalities, playing with deep, sludgy tones and polymetric rhythms, and breaking out into lush synths, guitars and soundscapes. However, this full-bodied sound never gets in the way of actually serving the music.
“I mean, I grew up with progressive music. DREAM THEATRE was my favourite band from the age of ten. So I’ve always been like, how fast can I play? But I think something changed, because seeing within scene, there are so many great bands. And if you’re going to put yourself on the map within great bands, like ANIMALS AS LEADERS or PERIPHERY I mean, there’s no way in hell we’re going to like put our mark in the same way. So, for my part, I want to go like a bit more old-school; like 80s metal and try to make it like bigger and heavier and bring in some post metal stuff as well. That’s stuff I never listened to. So to me, GRANT THE SUN has been like an eye opener. I mean, I started to listen to bands I never listened to before.”
GRANT THE SUN have a huge swarth of sounds they delve into, taking those classic and contemporary ideas in very unique directions. They wield drums and guitars in a way that feels sometimes violent and aggressive, other times melodic and fluid. There are no two tracks together that feel the same, but are made of the same stuff, like water from a stream into a waterfall, and then the sea. “As I grew up, I always loved the fact that in metal, you’re allowed to do everything,” Håvard smiles. “It’s like, make whatever is possible- and I love that. No rules. Just do whatever you want.”
While those ideas were very exciting, to play with nuance and engage a very musical ear was important. “We liked the elements of space,” Håvard continues, “And we tried to put that into the leads and the solos. It just had to be the right vibe; for Voyage, we decided early on, we’re going deep underwater. So, we kept up with those ideas all the time to like, try to make the production sounds like big, wavy and mystical.”
There are many joyful moments to listening to GRANT THE SUN’s debut record, but one of interesting parts was the band’s use of poetry throughout the album. “All the poems are about the ocean,” he tells us, “Yeah, they’re old, old poems- older than 150 years old- and we got people to perform them in their native or original language. I don’t know half of the poems what they’re saying, I just know it’s about the ocean. That’s, that’s enough for me.”
While Voyage isn’t strictly a concept album, there’s a story that the listener can put together with their own personal connection with the album, through the artwork and the way the music makes you feel. “I always think that in instrumental bands, it’s so hard to put some logic and sense into the songs because there’s no lyrics, there’s nothing to tell the story directly,” Håvard explains, “But that’s why we tried to include this theme and the poems and this journey of this stupid panda that we made up. I mean, it’s a bit of a comic approach, but I think actually, it does something to the music, that maybe not that many bands do that.”
With the idea that so much of instrumental music, especially within the realm of metal, is open to every possibility, there has to be someone who anchors the dynamic and refines all that raw talent. “Yeah, I think that’s Markus [Lillehaug Johnsen] our lead guitarist, he has like a jazz background. He is like the band leader, so he was in charge of this process,” reflects Håvard. “The other recordings, it was pretty much three guys at the rehearsal space, making music, going into studio and then releasing. This time, he had a vision. If I did too much on the drums, or if Martin [Rygge] wasn’t tight enough on a riff, he [was on it]. So, for me, it was just like trusting him with the vision he had.”
It’s likely that GRANT THE SUN have such a refined sound because of the communication between its members. “I think it’s a cool thing that we very different musical backgrounds. We have like some similar references, but we come from such different places,” Håvard clarifies, “And it’s so hard when you write something and try to explain it to the other guys, what was you had in mind. Very often people, for my part, I won’t get what Marcus is trying to tell me with the idea. I need it shown to me. So he’d record something […] and that was cool to just like, get everybody’s ideas into this album and musically […] it was it was so much fun.”
The fact that GRANT THE SUN are turning heads all across the scene, in many different countries, isn’t something the band are taking for granted, but are in fact totally appreciative of. “Having people in other countries actually sitting and listening to our music,” Håvard imagines, “I mean, it’s so much easier to want to spread your music these days, but the feeling of it that somebody in other countries actually enjoys our music is to me mind blowing. It’s the best feeling ever. So hopefully more people will get.”
Voyage is out now via Mas-Kina Recordings.
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