Lopez Blogs

Gravitonas certainly won me over with Kites, but i've become a full time disciple thanks to their gorgeous new single "Religious" (read my EP review here)... And just like the brillo video to Kites, they have excelled themselves once again with a visual treat that you get the full rundown to below (plus a little chat with the charming fellas after)...

• Pause as soon as the video comes on the screen... it's a rather lovely shot of Andreas Ohrn looking all serene and like some sort of southern gentleman. Gosh, he's a handsome chappy isn't he?
• He seems to be the patient to Alexander's therapist role - a role that the latter visually suits very well with his enquiring eyes and sucking on a pipe. That wallpaper is just ghastly though!
• Alexander seems to be contemplating every word as Andreas emotes the lyrics. It seems that he is singing to his therapist when he says "i used to be hollow/then you came along"...
• As the beat kicks in, the scene alternates between a windy outdoors, and the horribly wallpapered indoors, which is enough to make anyone need psychiatric help. Alexander's pipe gets greatly engorged, which surely must be some sort of sexual metaphor?!
• Oh! love that the window has a heavenly glow subtly shining through it. Tres bon.
• Outdoors and walking to the sea, there is pink clad shaman figure holding an awful lot of pink balloons. It looks pretty nippy out there...
• At 1m40s onwards, there is some brilliant gothic imagery with Andreas standing clad in a rather amazing coat, standing atop some rocks with the sea crashing behind him. It's video art, and reminiscent of Madonna's Frozen, but without the creepy crows...
• Alexander has taken on a priest type role in this scene - interestingly, his chair is much further away from the couch than when he was in his therapist role. Some sort of commentary on how far religion is removed from understanding the problems of the (un)common man? Or am I getting too deep?!
• Priest Alexander is flanked by two non-pink shaman. One has an ace hat/headgear made out of washing up gloves - and not your cheap as chips yellow ones either. I have found my halloween costume!
• The exhilarating second chorus sees the colourful shaman troop through the woods (followed by our beloved Gravitonas duo) like some sort of spiritual Priscilla Queen of the Desert quest. Pause at 2m41s and more video art appears - the shaman posse standing in front of the misty woods is somehow both creepy and glorious all at the same time. Much like most modern religions...
• Alexander and Andreas approach them, like some sort of celestial Watson and Holmes. Pause at 2m57s for the most terrified eyes I've seen in a while. It's beautifully shot and instantly conveys the uncertainty and terror of our next steps that we all sometimes feel in life...
• As Andreas sings the last "religious" of the middle 8, he looks positively possessed and the video continues to focus on his dominating presence while an animalistic freedom of movement takes place around him. Astonishing.
• As Alexander releases an electronic "aah" at 3m40s, it's a glorious moment and you can almost smell the incense and ferocity of the woodland scene. Love. It.
• The video ends with Gravitonas walking almost hand in hand into the sea for the cleansing kiss of baptism. Such an amazing video...

A quick chat with Gravitonas...


- Not to fawn too early on, but Religious actually makes me weak at the knees each time I listen to it. It's pop communion! And a bit like Army of Lovers "Crucified" has been resurrected for a whole new audience. Where/how did the song originate?

Andreas: We wanted to make a sequel to the first single "Kites". Like a Kites 2.0. One day when I came to the studio Alexander and co-producer/writer Henrik Wikström showed me a couple of new ideas and one of them was the embryo of "Religious". Even though it wasn't much in the draft yet, except the chords and a melody line, it really knocked me of my feet. Me and Alexander started writing the lyrics right away and we began recording vocals in the next couple of days. Gravitonas' guitarist Ben Smith filled in with guitars, we brought in a choir, strings, beats and the production kept growing and growing, Finally, Religious, the brother of Kites, was born!

Alexander: Not that we are afraid of writing more traditional tunes too, but the refreshing thing with "Kites" and "Religious" is that we have skipped the old verse-bridge-chorus-structure and gone for a structure of just a strong melodic line with huge instrumental bits thrown in. It's a lot more dance or even hip-hop than traditional rock or pop. And it means the production is more important than ever since we are all producers ourselves in Gravitonas. "Kites" has now spent four months in the Top 10 of the Swedish dance chart. That's exactly where we wanted to be at at this stage. New music always begins on the dance floor!

- "The Brother of Kites" could be an amazing Gravitonas tribute band name :) Now, the piano at the beginning of the tune is just heavenly (ok, I'm done with the religious references now) and paired with the vocal is quite a powerful opening. It's orgasmic as a crescendoing piece of pop majesty, but it also makes me want to hear some stripped back acoustic songs from you. Is that a possibility?

Andreas: We like machines so you won't here anything completely acoustic from Gravitonas at this point. Maybe on a stage but not on a record. Some of our songs are stripped down, at least parts of the songs, but somehow most of them always end up with loud and sweaty climaxes.

Alexander: I agree. I just want the whole "Unplugged paradigm" to die. I'm much more interested in exploring soulful music with electronics than with acoustics. Sure, we have recorded acoustic versions of a couple of songs too and will perform them too eventually, if only to prove that we CAN do it, since this seems to concern the many unsecure music journos out there. But it's not where our heart is at. Gravitonas is a lot closer to Bjork than people may have realized. We agree with her notion of a "nordica" music style: A very Scandinavian ambition to combine soul and machines. Gravitonas, Robyn, Royksopp, The Sound Of Arrows, and Miike Snow, that's all "nordica" to me. And it all started with Bjork's magnificent records in the 1990s; this is Scandinavian contemporary pop that has broken the predictable but overdone links to Abba och the Cheiron production house. And it likes to be huge!

- I love the thought of loud and sweaty climaxes that like to be huge! That sounds very pleasing indeed! And not just a new single, but a whole flipping EP! Amazes. Is this a unique release or will some of the songs end up on the album?

Andreas: We love the EP format. Instead of releasing one album a year you can release three EP's plus an album every year. I don't want to reveal so much about the album but there will be a second EP and a third video before the album release.

Alexander: Everybody uses Spotify in Sweden now. Everybody!!! The old formats single and album are dead. The future of music is playlists, and you either have playlists with a favorite artist or with a favorite genre. So the EP is perfect for this new environment. Sure, there will be a Gravitonas debut album before the end of the year, but it should be viewed more as a collection of EP tracks with some additional bonus, rather than a big bounce the way albums used to be regarded. But expect lots of releases from Gravitonas, often centered around the EP format which suits us, and apparently music bloggers and fans, perfectly. Hey, Robyn is doing the same thing!

- How's the video/remixes shaping up (note - though it's been released since I had this chat!)?

Andreas: The video premieres within the next couple of days and the Religious single is released the 25th of August. I just saw the final version of the video and it totally blew me away. The director Josef Andersson and the video crew have done a brilliant job. We had a blast shooting the video, chasing shadowy sexy creatures in the woods in the middle of the night and getting baptized in the sea. I love this job. The Religious remixes are 12 little pieces of art. It's an honor to work with such talented people as Dada Life, Soundfactory, Adam Rickfors etc. And I love the fact that we’re releasing a single that has the length of an album with its 12 tracks. Again.

- What most people have picked up on is the fact that fans and critics alike get to hear and purchase your work at the same time, even before radio play. Maroon 5 have recently copied this with their latest couple of singles. Do you see this as a trend that will grow or was it just something you were passionate about? I mean, the internet is riddled with "hear this 60 second clip of a song" or see our video preview snippet - did you want to purposely avoid that?

Andreas: I really hope this is a trend that will grow and I think more bands and artists will follow. There's no point in being old school and give the songs in advance to reviewers, radio stations etc and then let the fans wait for a couple weeks. Fuck it. Everyone gets the song at the same time. Doesn't matter if you want to download it on iTunes or stream it on Spotify or whatever.

Alexander: The internet democratizes everything. And we love that. We are not only totally devoted about our music but we truly enjoy interacting with fans. We are social monsters as much as we are musicians. We hope this will be appreciated too. Our record labels were very uncomfortable about these demands of ours, this fans-first policy, but the fans really appreciate our uncompromising attitude. And now is the time for artists and fans to take over and relegate record labels to the role they should have: To serve us, not to manipulate us!

- You've both been involved in other projects outside of Gravitonas - is this the absolute focus for the time being? Alexander - if you write a song that you think "hmmm, that's really a BWO song" would you look to have the group back together or rework it so it suits Gravitonas?

Andreas: Gravitonas is the absolute focus. We’re all songwriters and producers in this project so if we wright a song that for some reason doesn’t fit Gravitonas we'll find another artist for it.

Alexander: Totally! Me, Andreas and Henrik will definitely write for and produce other artists, Universal regard us as much as a major future production team as a band, but BWO will not reunite while Gravitonas is going on. Each project has its time. To me, BWO was the perfect radio-friendly 00s pop band. But Gravitonas is for a new scene, a new decade, with new conditions, new means of production, distribution, and performance. I'm very comfortable doing Gravitonas at the moment, thank you!


- That's good to hear :) Andreas you recently did quite a pleasing fashion shoot that gave me the "cosmic horn" :P A) is fashion something you quite like/are interested in and B) are you ready to take over from the genetically engineered Mans Zelmerlow as Sweden's sexiest fella?! (though Alexander, if you bring the ball gag around, I'm sure we could have fun too!!!)

Andreas: A: I’m getting more and more interested in fashion and it was a pleasure modelling at the Julia Koistinen Fashion Show. B: After walking the runway in tights and army boots I already see myself as the sexiest man alive : )

Alexander: I love narcissism! That's why I love working with Andreas. ;-) As for myself, my ambition is to be the Vivienne Westwood of pop. All I can say is: You ain't seen nothing yet. Gerontophilia (google it) needs a new ambassador, I'm happy to accept the role. I will die on a dance floor, you bet!

- I googled it. I am sure you will be a brilliant ambassador, Alexander! Naturally the group attracted international interest from fans of Alexander's previous work, and I loved your interview on Larry Flick's Morning Jolt... do you have plans to market your music internationally or just hope it takes off? Will you be tracking Larry down now you have a new single out?!

Andreas: We have BIG plans but I don't know how much I can say about that right now so I pass the question to Alexander. We'd love to do another interview with Mr. Flick. Last time we even talked about visiting the Morning Jolt studio. That would be lot's of fun.

Alexander: "Religious" is set up as the first single in North America. Expect a push to start in early October. As for plans for other parts of the world, we go with the flow and let the fans decide where to promote first. But since the album is not due until the end of the year, there is no rush as yet to set the exact plans. But do expect a lot more fashion shows, haha!

- Why do you think BWO were never as massive as they should have been in England? And why do you think Gravitonas should be?

Alexander: Well, you not only need great records. You need luck with timing too. Especially if you are non-Anglo-Saxon artist. BWO was signed to EMI globally but unfortunately this happened just when EMI was breaking up and going down the drain. Every time we were ready to go internationally, the people we were set to work with either had just left the company or were forced to leave. Still, BWO was a huge success in the territories where we went outside of EMI, such as Eastern Europe and East Asia, and the last album "Big Science" was an altogether independent release (all main EMI Sweden acts like BWO, Mando Diao, and The Ark had left the company by then). But from the business side of things, the 00s were a nightmare in the music industry. The streaming revolution is the big u-turn. The 10s look much more hopeful for new music and creativity!

- When you are not being Gravitonas what do you do in your down time, or is it really just all about the music?!

Andreas: As I mentioned before the members of Gravitonas are songwriters and music producers so for me it’s pretty much about music and performance in some form all the time. Just the way I like it.

Alexander: Same for me. I have put aside just about everything else I used to do. Making music has never been more exciting than now and with Gravitonas. The future is so bright that I really really need those Chanel shades right now, haha.

- How's the Oracle getting on in twitter land? And how are you embracing all these new types of online media?

Andreas: Right now the Oracle is searching for pearls in the shallow waters off Sri Lanka. She's pretty pissed off that we didn't bring her to yesterday's "Guldknappen" fashion gala so I think she'll keep the twitter posts short for a day or two. There are many good tools online for fans and artists to communicate with each other. After the release of our first single "Kites" we already had about 1,000 fans from 40 different countries on our Facebook page and tons of traffic on our website gravitonas.net. It makes it easy for us to communicate with our fans. Soon we'll also throw in some online remix competitions, just for fans.

Alexander: I believe The Oracle is very determined to remain the only female in the Gravitonas family, haha. She's that kind of bitch.

- I'm thinking of visiting Sweden next year but I've never been before. Should I start learning the language and where are the best places to visit that aren't necessarily on the usual tourist track?

Andreas: No need to learn the language, everyone speaks English here! You should swim naked across a Swedish lake in the midnight sun. And when you're in the middle just turn around and watch the sky for a while.

Alexander: There are two things to know that most visitors are unaware of. The first is that all the best parties in Sweden are after-parties ("efterfest" in Swedish). You go to a club and stay there until closing time at say 4 or 5 in the morning. But the real fun starts when you leave the club and go to somebody's house for the after-party. Then there are after-after-parties, then there are after-after-after-parties. Why else do you think Scandinavians live in huge mansions and often have several of them? The second thing you should know is that people always own a ranch or at least a cottage in the country woods. And a lot of partying is going on there, far away from peeping neighbors and the police. You get the picture! Oh, and if you're gay, forget about gay clubs. All clubs in Sweden are mixed and there are no gay ghettos in Stockholm. Being gay stopped being an issue here decades ago. Nobody cares so we all intermingle and have no idea of who we are going to end up in bed with. Or with what gender for that matter.

- I love that - intermingling sounds my sort of scene! Finally do swing by if you are in England. I make a lovely cup of tea :)

Andreas: Thanks Paul! Hopefully we'll come to England soon. You bring the tea. We bring the vodka.

Alexander: Tea sounds great, but maybe we can spice the tea with some gin?

Good grief, i think i love them even more now :) Next up - it's time. to face. the music. (Week 3!)