Following the listening of his interesting release “Ghost Caravan” (2021, Hubro), an album performed entirely on a pipe organ and recorded at the modern Steinkjer Church, we reached the prolific composer Ståle Storlokken – one of the milestones of Norwegian jazz and experimental music scenes, whose name got mostly matched to the ones of his long-lasting friends and collaborators like Arve Henriksen and Terje Rypdal as well as to the bands like Motorpsycho, Supersilent, and Elephant9, who got fed by his artistic lymph – by some questions. We’re happy he was in very good shape and that he explained this last effort by his own words on our zine. Enjoy the reading and the listening.
Chain D.L.K.: Hi Stale! I hope you’re doing well!
Ståle Storlokken: Same to you! I’m fine, soon to be fully vaccinated, and hoping we can go back to more normal life soon. Even though I have been so fortunate to have quite some activity (both concerts and composition work), it has been a strange year and a half indeed. But I actually finished mixing three releases during lockdown; “Folklore” with Trondheim Voices (music by me and Helge Sten, released on Hubro), “Acoustic Movements” with Eirik Hegdal (released on Particular Recordings Collective) and “Ghost Caravan” (my latest solo release on Hubro).
Chain D.L.K.: I enjoyed the listening experience you recently pushed on the excellent Hubro catalog, but before focusing on it and your solo productions, a question that many people, who know your name for different reasons, can expect. Any plans to relive Supersilent? Is there anything boiling in that creative pot?
Ståle Storlokken: Despite the low activity the last couple of years (also thanks to the pandemic…) we are still going strong. Supersilent is one of these bands that I think will never cease to exist because for us, it’s so much more than just a band, it’s like our home ground playfield! And hopefully, there will be some shows this fall (3 concerts at Blaa in Oslo in August and a concert at Semibreve Festival in Braga, Portugal as we know of at the moment).
Chain D.L.K.: Your solo debut occurred on Hubro as well by The Haze of Sleeplessness, where your imprint was somehow recognizable within the “cinematic” sound of that debut. Have you ever experienced moments when you didn’t recognize your sound during your long-lasting career?
Ståle Storlokken: Of course, but that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. I am always trying to be as open-minded as possible, looking for new sounds and inspiration from everywhere. And then it may happen at first that it sounds a bit, not like me, but after a while, these new inspirations will (hopefully) fall into place in my musical and sonic universe.
Chain D.L.K.: What did you have in mind while working on “Ghost Caravan” beside Victor Sjostrom’s notorious mute movie “Korkarlen”?
Ståle Storlokken: I must admit, I have not seen that movie… Other than that, it was just the idea of making a 100% improvised record on the church organ. And to explore the organ in any way, looking for every possible (and impossible) sounds I could think of, and trying to unleash as many of my sources of inspiration as possible.
Chain D.L.K.: “Ghost Caravan” is a set of improvisation on the pipe organ of Steinkjer church. Can you tell us something about the sparkle that set those recordings on fire?
Ståle Storlokken: There are moments when playing and recording music that are more struggling than others. This session was indeed one of the least struggling when it comes to solo work for me. I really felt that everything was in a really good flow. The organ has a good sound and a fair amount of mechanical noises and quirks that suited my music really well. And I got into this state of very concentrated creative focus that you don’t experience every time. And all this was beautifully recorded by Stian!
Chain D.L.K.: I guess the interaction with Stian Westerhus, who cared about the recording sessions, was a relevant aspect for the final result. Do you want to share any particular (maybe the funniest one) moment of this collaboration?
Ståle Storlokken: Maybe not one moment, but it was really nice working with Stian on this one. Because first he had some excellent ideas about how to record this, and it sounded great. And he gave his valuable opinions on the music, and we also had quite some down-to-earth moments with humor and laughs just to reset the head a bit from time to time.
Chain D.L.K.: Can you explain this alternation of Cloudland parts and numbered Spheres over the development of the release?
Ståle Storlokken: When I was finished mixing the music, it was time to come up with titles for the music. Until this, all the pieces had just work titles. I could call them Improv part 1 etc. or something like that, but I wanted the pieces to have titles that gave a sense of a story to them. And “Ghost Caravan” and “Drifting On Wasteland Ocean” was the first parts to get a title. And then I discovered that the selection I’d made was alternating between the abstract, mechanical, and “ghostly” parts and the more concrete, melodic, and sacred parts. So I then came up with the idea of naming the abstract ones Cloudland, which I thought could be a state of moving or floating between the Spheres, that was more like coming to some sort of solid ground.
Chain D.L.K.: A pipe organ gets commonly matched to sacred and religious music, you seem to explore the ghostly side of this instrument. Did you know any composition belonging to religious music, where the ghostly side was taken somehow into consideration?
Ståle Storlokken: I am really inspired by and a huge fan of Olivier Messiaen’s music. And I think he really has some “ghostly” side to his music, if not otherworldly.
Chain D.L.K.: Are there any compositions with your signature or imprint that could be a clue of the explorations you did on this “Ghost Caravan”?
Ståle Storlokken: Not that is recorded, unfortunately. But you will for sure find imprints on records with my other, such as Supersilent or the “Acoustic Movements” album with Eirik Hegdal.
Chain D.L.K.: “Drifting On Wasteland Ocean” is maybe the more noisy moments, where you gave voice to the mechanical part of the instrument. Any word about this awesome moment of “Ghost Caravan”?
Ståle Storlokken: The beauty of many mechanical church organs compared to those who transfer the keyboard and registration pistons electrically or pneumatic, is that you can drag the registration pistons halfway and thus regulate the amount of air going to the pipes. Then you can get some fascinating sounds. But it’s not always easy to reach the point where it sounds the best because it’s so unpredictable. But on “Drifting On Wasteland Ocean” I really found a good setting. And here the title came up as a result of the first chords of this piece. It sounds almost like a boat. And the engine-like ostinato that is repeating itself during the piece is actually played on the pedals.
Chain D.L.K.: Any work in progress?
Ståle Storlokken: Right now, I am finishing writing a piece for a chamber music festival in Trondheim called Kamfest. It’s a quite big production outside in a large shallow pool in the center of Trondheim called Dokkparken, together with Circa Teater, Trondheim Voices, Military Marching Band, Tor Haugerud, Kyrre Laastad, Dancers and Actors. I’m really looking forward to this! The premiere is on 24th September.
Besides touring (hopefully, the world is opening up a bit during this fall) with Elephant9, Supersilent, and others, practicing and sound exploration, I am also making new material for a new solo release in the future.
Visit Ståle Storlokken on the web:
https://www.staalestorloekken.com
https://stalestorlokken.bandcamp.com