interview by: Roberto Martinelli

(band photo by Asgeir Mickelson)

Is Solefald trying to show off their amazing intellects, or is their art a natural effort? I talked to lyricist Cornelius to try to get to the bottom of this. Armed with what little I had in terms of Norwegian obscurity, I began.

Maelstrom: I learned a new word in Norwegian that I’m really quite pleased about: “utburd.”

Cornelius: I’m afraid I don’t know the word...

Maelstrom: Wow! *I* can teach YOU something in Norwegian! Hihihi!

Cornelius: It sounds like a table outside.

Maelstrom: Apparently, if you take a baby to the woods to die, the ghost is an utburd.

Cornelius: Ah! Utburd! Yes, I thought you were talking about a table.

Maelstrom: Well, it’s my shitty accent. I have no idea what I’m saying.

Cornelius: That’s a very rare word. Congratulations. I wonder who taught you that.

Maelstrom: Yeah, it’s part of the perks of being a metal journalist. I learned it from Madder Mortem. Have you heard of them?

Cornelius: I think all the people in that band were put out in the forest to die when they were kids, but they made their way back.

Maelstrom: It seems that each successive release of Solefald is even more hifalutin and even more elitist than the last. In this one, you’ve got references to Münch, Shakespeare, Odin and Greek mythology. Wow.

Cornelius: I appreciate your reaction. Many of the reactions I’ve read from listeners have been quite overwhelmed as well. To me, that fact is quite surprising, really. As the lyricist of the band, these things are part of my every day life. I don’t think of them as elitist. Reading literature and discussing, that’s pretty much what my life is about. To me it isn’t elitist. If I try to be in the place of someone else, I might feel that way. But the question is, is it too much? I would hope the answer is no. As Shakespeare has great dramatic potential, as does the Greek and Norse literatures. Where did you find Shakespeare on the record?

Maelstrom: The song “Dionysify this Night of Spring” made me think of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Cornelius: Ah. The spring theme may be very present in Shakespeare, but we actually didn’t do that song with Shakespeare in mind.

Maelstrom: Ok. I wanted to talk about Edvard Münch. I’m only familiar with his art. (You can take a look at it and read up on Münch here http://art.enchantingsites.com - Roberto) He of course did the drawings of sick, twisted, near corpse drawings of people. There’s this band called Rachel’s. Have you heard of them?

Cornelius: No.

Maelstrom: They’re a sort of instrumental, new classical music band. They did a tribute to Münch a few years ago. The have a little bio of Münch in the booklet, but it doesn’t touch on why his drawing are so fucked up. What really appealed to you about his art, and why did you want to dedicate one of your songs to him?

Cornelius: I was in Oslo three days ago. I went back into the Münch museum. We do have quite a lot of things in common. Norway’s history is much more related to anything that is craft and industry, rather than art. Münch lived abroad in Germany and France. He traveled to Italy and the UK. He wrote stuff in German. He had mental problems. He drank a lot. He must have been experimenting with drugs, as well. I think he was a very sensitive person. What appeals to me in his paintings and what connects him to Solefald is his expressionism. Our music could be caused expressionist without any big mistakes being made.

The question is, is that what Münch saw, or are the paintings the way he makes people - the way what comes from inside him projects onto the world. I think we do the same with music.

Maelstrom: Are you saying that you want your music to illicit some of the same responses as looking at a Münch painting?

Cornelius: I think I might, yes.

Maelstrom: (The paintings) are quite disgusting.

Cornelius: You find them disgusting? Most people just find them displeasing.

Maelstrom: Right. I didn’t mean that as a value judgement. I was thinking more in terms of how they make me feel.

Cornelius: Yes, kind of disquieting.

Maelstrom: It makes me think of (what I’ve read about) World War I. I associate a lot of emotions of the two.

Cornelius: Most of his paintings were painted just before.

Maelstrom: That’s right. I was reading about that. It was amazing, because I would think they would have come after.

Cornelius: But, you know, it means that the whole zeitgeist and attitude of the time must have been pretty disturbing.

Maelstrom: There’s a lyric on your previous record (Pills Against the Ageles Ills) that goes, “hate yourself like Kate Moss.” What do you mean?

Cornelius: It’s pretty much my fist going back to where [the inspiration for the lyric] comes from. To me, talking shit about fashion icons is a way of lyrical self-defense. I think that as a consumer, I often feel myself quite humiliated. I often feel underestimated both as a customer and an intellectual.

Calvin Klein, or Coco Chanel, I find their way of selling me their project extremely arrogant. One of the only ways I can respond to that is by having fun with them. There’s this old tradition: you talk about the high with the words of the low; you try to ridiculize it. Hate yourself like Kate Moss. You read all these stories about Kate Moss and others: she had a joint the other day or the other year... what everybody else does becomes big press when one of these people do it. I find that whole circus to be so ridiculous. Does Kate Moss hate herself? I don’t know, but when I wrote that lyric, that was pretty much my feeling.

Maelstrom: Let’s talk about the song “Buy My Sperm.” There’s a lyric that goes, “credit card accepted for 5,000 seed. The A bomb was a product of excellent sperm. Next genocide courtesy of my firm.” What’s that song about?

Cornelius: It’s pretty related to the lyrics of Pills Against the Ageless Ills and Neonism. It has this sort of sarcastic and contemporary tone to it. There’s a lot of humor in the song. In some sense, I enjoy myself a lot more when I write this sort of lyrics - much more than when I write the sort of sentimental ones.

The “Buy My Sperm” song is discussing the scenario where your genetic material has a price. The better it is considered, obviously, the more expensive it is. Sperm banks must have been around for thirty years. IN the future, especially when writing the lyric, I had the feeling that the attention paid to who you are in terms of your DNA code will increase. It can be both a liberating and disturbing thought that I might be discriminated against based on my DNA. I’m not anti-science at all, but I see the potential dangers of the commercialization of genes.

Maelstrom: (please bear with me for a moment as I put Cornelius’ French skills to the test) Je vois que vous écrivez maintenant dans quatre langues differentes.

Cornelius: Oui.

Maelstrom: Vous pourriez faire cette entrevue en français?

Cornelius: Pas mal. Vous parlez français aussi?

Maelstrom: Oui, je suis bilingue.

Cornelius: Ah, bon? Vous avez des parents?

Maelstrom: Mon père est moitié italien et moitié français. J’essaye d’à nouveau de parler l’italien comme je le parlais quand j’étais enfant. Je parle aussi japonais et espagnol, donc je suis un peu comme vous. C’est vraimant épatant que vous parlez tellement de langues si bien.

Anyway, I’m going to go back to English. Or else no one is going to understand! So you’re writing in four different languages now. Are you trying to connect with the broadest possible audience or are you just showing off?

Cornelius: We expected such a question. I’m happy to hear it. You’ve got the right to be critical. Simply where this comes from is 1) my everyday life (but that’s not really interesting). I live in Paris and I speak usually several languages each day. Two, due to the extreme importance that the English language has, I feel that being given the opportunity to promote some other languages (which also happen to be languages that I know. I’d like to do a song in Arabic, but I don’t know the language)...

Maelstrom: I always think it’s cool when bands sing in their own language.

Cornelius: That being said, singing in Norwegian is something that I think is really nice. We enjoy singing in our mother tongue because in that sense we send something back to our country. It’s also the language we speak the best.

When it comes to German, it’s the language that has, for a variety of reasons, been made taboo over the last six years. I like the sound of the language. It fits extremely well with everything that is metal. It’s very sharp and harsh. By using all these languages, we are making a gesture in favor of those languages and countries that are considered to be less important. If at the same time we are able to attract positive attention, I’m very happy. But that is not the main drive. Neither is showing off, although I’m prepared for the accusations.

Maelstrom: What’s it like writing and singing in different languages? What are the challenges and flavors that come through?

Cornelius: Interesting. French is very much...this is where all the clichés come out... When doing the French stuff, like the “Fraternité de la grande lumière,” it’s very Mediterranean sounding. The other one is the Münch song, which is very melodic and mellow sounding. French is very much an ambient language, adapted to more emotional communication.

The German song is really one of my favorites on the album. It has this very weird, menacing tone. It’s something you might expect in a Grimm fairy tale.

Singing in Norwegian is a bit ceremonial, almost.

Maelstrom: What are you doing in Paris?

Cornelius: I’ve been studying for some years now. I’m also trying to establish myself as a writer. For exile, Paris is a good place to be.

Maelstrom: Hehehe. Please continue about singing in Norwegian.

Cornelius: Being in exile, I’d like to put Norwegian on the map, to expose the language to people. I think that’s a good thing. People who are into meaning - there are very few - but in the sense of digging...

Maelstrom: Are you talking about metal people reading metal lyrics?

Cornelius: I know there are a fair amount of intelligent people who are into our music. I’ve received emails from people who see things into our music that I’ve haven’t seen. The thing is, most people don’t pay attention to what is being sung, it gives you more freedom in general.

Maelstrom: There’s a quote on your website about “staying out of the stinking, ideological swamp of black metal.” Maybe you talk a little about that.

Cornelius: Yes, I can. I’ve actually written an entire essay on the subject.

Maelstrom: Wow! Where can we read it?

Cornelius: Well, the problem is that at the moment it’s entirely in Norwegian. It’ll probably be published in Norway in a sort of political review publication.

The “stinking ideological swamp” of black metal what I consider to be the extremely totalitarian symbols, the aesthetics and phrases of that particular style is extremely uniform given the number of bands participating.

Maelstrom: Especially considering they’re all over the world.

Cornelius: Exactly. At some points you’ve even had Hungarians singing in Norwegian with topless women with Norwegian flags on them. At some point the whole thing becomes parody. What we try to do with Solefald is (besides enjoying ourselves and making listenable music) trying to lift ourselves up from that swamp.

That being said, I don’t like to moralize too much. If people want to write about Satanic topics, I don’t mind at all. I recognize Satanism as a philosophy among many others. That’s not the issue. The problem is that there are too many followers in metal. It’s the old imperative of “know thyself and thou shalt know the gods.” It’s simply about finding your own path, so to speak. The swamp is where you actually get stuck.

Maelstrom: What was the most important event that got you interested in playing music?

Cornelius: That was Angus Young of AC/DC. I think it was when I was 11 years old. I used to listen to Pet Shop Boys and George Harrison. Pretty much pop music. I watched this TV program and saw the “Heatseeker” video, with Angus Young crashing through a wall in a rocket. The rocket opens and he stands there playing guitar. That’s the moment that I decided I wanted to become a guitar player. I was awestruck. I didn’t have any choice.

Maelstrom: On your first record you had these screechy, raspy vocals. You sort of have those on the new record, but they’re more full and low. What’s the meaning of these raspy, croaky vocals of yours?

Cornelius: Thank you for noticing the change. That has something to do with maturity. The screechy vocals are something that I practiced a lot more before. When I do them, my voice tends to crack more often. How they sound while recorded really depends on the day. When using my vocal chords (which I don’t, when I scream) I’m able to control the lyrics much more. What I say becomes more audible. We also had pretty good microphones this time.

Maelstrom: Is it not very loud when you do it?

Cornelius: This time around, it’s maybe a bit louder than when I speak on the telephone (Cornelius has a pretty relaxed, moderate voice - Roberto). On the first album, they were really like someone was screaming.

Maelstrom: The first record is still my favorite, Cornelius.

Cornelius: It is? Good. I’m happy to hear it. Why?

Maelstrom: I like the melodies on it, and I think the clean singing is the prettiest. Those fucked up vocals are the most fucked up. The first two songs in particular are quite good.

I wonder if you’ve heard of that band Dornenreich? They’re from Austria.

Cornelius: No, I don’t know them.

Maelstrom: Well, I guess that question ends there. Anyway, there’s something about your first record that reminds me of their latest record (Her Von Welken Nächten). (also check out the interview with Dornenreich in this issue).

Cornelius: Is it after or before?

Maelstrom: After. Their last one came out two or three years ago.

Cornelius: What label are they on?

Maelstrom: Prophecy. The singer reminds me a bit of you. He’s very intellectual and well-spoken. It’s fascinating to contrast people like you with the opposites in the metal world, the stereotypes who say, “fuck yeah! Bang your head, drink beer and get laid!”

Cornelius: Yeah, well, you know, which are perfectly respectable things.

Maelstrom: Oh, yeah! Getting laid is great! (Laugh)

Cornelius: And so is drinking beer. (Laugh)

Maelstrom: But, seriously, I know you get this question a lot, but, like, why are you playing metal if you’re so intellectual? In a sense, it’s a pretty stupid question, but in another sense, it has its validity.

Cornelius: So, are you asking the question?

Maelstrom: Um... I’d like to hear about what you have to say about that.

Cornelius: At the moment, I’m preparing a solo project called Sturmgeist.

Maelstrom: That’s the German thrash project with the countryside image.

Cornelius: Yeah, exactly. It’s going to be more of a winter sports kind of thing with a 19th century visual side. The music will be very rudimentary, groovy thrash music. No bells, no bagpipes. (Laugh)

Maelstrom: Is it a sort of outlet?

Cornelius: Sometimes.

Maelstrom: Or a way to say, “hey, I can be totally metal, too!”

Cornelius: Maybe both. Maybe a way of tracing roots that I don’t get access to through Solefald. You know, that’s one of my responses to your question about why we would play metal if we are that intellectual.

Another response would be, yeah, I’ve asked myself that question.

Maelstrom: I think that people who don’t listen to metal would write you off because they think metal is stupid, and people who do listen to metal might wonder what you’re doing.

Cornelius: I think people who ask themselves that question do have a point. We’ve been around seven years and produced four albums. The name of the band is getting to know the name of the band. There are people aware that we are trying to do something different. Whether they like our music and buy our album is something else entirely. At least we are there and people are getting to know us. We’re going to stay around for another few years...maybe much, much longer, we don’t know. Metal is what both of us grew up with. That’s what we know. That’s why we’re playing metal.

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