[From the Vault] Interview: Northaunt

"From the Vault" is a series of articles originally published between 2011 and 2014 that I'm re-publishing for archival purposes, usually due to the scarcity of available material or the artist(s) not being active anymore.

Date: 30/09/2011

Place: Essen, Germany

What can be said about Northaunt that the readers of this website don't already know? Hailing from Trondheim, Norway, the project has been at the forefront of the Scandinavian scene since its creation at the dawn of the 21st century, similarly to its peers Svartsinn and Kammarheit. After a few very well-received releases, the project seems to have abruptly ceased all activity in 2007. Having learned through some personal connections that the artist behind Northaunt, Hærleif Langås, was visiting this year’s Denovali Swingfest in Essen, Germany (as was I), I decided to try to hook up for a chat with him and poke around a little.

While doing what research I could before the conversation with Hærleif, I realised that he not only hasn't released an album in almost five years, but also hasn't given an interview in the same period as well.

Indeed, the last album was released in 2006. Everything’s been in almost complete standstill since. I’ve been making progress very, very slowly on the new album, which will probably be the last Northaunt full-length, since it’s taking so long, and the process is exhausting. I’ve been making music for other projects too, but it’s very difficult these days.

To turn the conversation to a brighter note, I expressed my appreciation for the fact that the wait for new Northaunt material was at least somewhat relieved by the re-release of the project's debut album, The Ominous Silence, last year.

It wasn’t my idea, really. Indiestate wanted to do it, they set up a cooperation with Cyclic Law and Ewers Tonkunst and got it released. I did some remastering and tried to make it as good as possible. Some of the artwork has been carried over from the original release, but some bits are new as well, especially in the photography department, which is something I do a lot of these days. I’m satisfied, all in all.

Re-releases always represent a certain milestone in one's musical career, so I was curious whether Hærleif was content with everything he has accomplished over the previous decade, as well as whether he had any regrets or wishes he had done something differently.

I’m happy with what I’ve done, no question about it, I just wish I could’ve made more music in general. There always seems to be something happening at the personal level. On the one hand, there’s a perennial lack of financial and other resources; on the other, I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and my working conditions aren’t quite ideal. Personal problems get thrown into the mix occasionally as well, and then it's a long way to my studio too. All this makes it quite difficult to work on new material. Creativity is the only thing that’s never lacking, but ironically, that just makes it more irritating not to be able to sit down and dedicate myself to making new music. I honestly want to make music all the time, but it’s a long way to my studio too. It’s difficult to get things done with all these different factors at play.

Other than his alter egos such as The Human Voice and Therradaemon (of which I'm perhaps even more of a fan than the main project), Hærleif has recently been involved in a new collaboration project called Mulm.

Mulm is a very interesting project. It’s been very good for me on a personal level as well, since I had all those problems getting my own stuff finished; especially Northaunt, as I have very high demands for Northaunt material. In Mulm, I’m simply one out of four members, which makes it a lot easier on me personally. It is a cooperative project, but we do individual track parts on our own; sometimes I’m in charge of guitar sounds, sometimes basic drones, and so on. It all started with an old friend of mine, Kjetil – also an ex-member of Northaunt – wanting to do a collaboration with me and two other guys from other projects. We composed our first song and were almost surprised to see how satisfactory the results were. Everyone else thought it was good too, so we talked about the possibility of doing a full-length together and decided to go for it.

I had to point out that four-piece bands/projects are a rarity in the dark ambient scene, to say the least.

Yes, and that’s the best thing about it. With four people, it’s probably the biggest ambient band around! [laughs] But it works, it’s definitely something unique. It’s been a great experience for everyone involved, really, as we’re all used to working on our own all the time, so it’s a new kind of positive impulse for all of us. To me, it’s one big happy story, unlike some others.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first Mulm full-length is slated for release on Cyclic Law in January 2012. I tried to extract some more information from Hærleif to make the wait a little easier (or harder?).

Indeed, the CD is due by January at the latest. The name of the album is The End Of Greatness. It was the idea of another member, so don’t expect me to explain it well, but it’s an astronomy-related term from a theory that explains the organisation of the universe. There’s essentially a border up to which you can see the organisation of the universe according to known principles; after that, everything seems completely random. The end of greatness is the name of that border or limit. You’re better off googling it, though. [laughs] I think it’s a good title, partly because of its double meaning.

That is not the only collaboration that Hærleif is involved with, though. I learned through other sources that he was actively working on a joint release with Jan Roger of Svartsinn fame. Amused by my poking around for information, Hærleif decided to indulge my interest.

There is a split-LP in the works that the two of us are planning to release on Loki Foundation. We both read the book The Road by Cormack McCarthy simultaneously and liked it a lot; it’s very atmospheric and a very, very good book overall. About that time, the guys from Loki asked the two of us to do a joint release for their series of split-LPs featuring various artists; we wanted to make a conceptual release out of it, and they agreed, so that’s the background. I have to disappoint you, though - the composing process is going very slowly for this one as well, so there’s no set release date so far, but I’m trying to work on it as much as possible and get it finished in the near future. It’s difficult to work with so many things going on simultaneously.

One thing that’s always impressed me is how close-knit the Scandinavian dark ambient community seems to be. It seems to have all the qualities of an actual scene.

Maybe I can’t see it the right way because I’m in the middle of it, but to me, it’s just a bunch of friends making music. It’s not big enough to be a proper scene. It almost feels like an accident that there’s three or four of us in Trondheim, just enough so that we can hang out and discuss music. There really isn’t much else, however. It’s pretty small-scale.

It was curious, not to mention propitious, that both Hærleif and myself ended up meeting for the first time at Denovali Swingfest of all places. As it's not exactly a dark ambient festival, but rather wider/more experimental in nature, it spurred me to inquire about Hærleif's own musical preferences and background.

As you’ve just said, there’s a good reason I’m here. I don’t go to a lot of festivals, anywhere, as I don’t really like mainstream music; this festival is a pretty good example of what I do like, though. Ambient music, dark or otherwise, is my first pick, but I also enjoy the doom/drone bands, as well as dark jazz. This festival is a mix of all these, so it’s a perfect festival to me. Bohren & Der Club Of Gore is one of my favourite bands, and I’m a big fan of Thomas Köner too.

An underrated aspect of dark ambient is the artists' capability to transfer their music to a live setting. Northaunt used to be quite active when it comes to live performances, until a sudden stop some years ago, so I had to inquire about the reasons behind.

I don’t really play live anymore, and I don’t intend to either. Playing live has somehow never been enjoyable for me, although I’ve had some great times, especially on the 2007 Russian tour with Kammarheit and Svartsinn – we had a huge turnout for the genre we play. I like to travel and meet people who’ve heard my music, but at the moment, there's too much frankly frustrating work that needs to be done in order to prepare the concept, and the same goes for the equipment, which can be a pain.

I can't say I blame Hærleif for his attitude, as dark ambient is notoriously ruinous when it comes to the financials of a live performance or tour.

There’s no financial interest in it at all! It’s all about travelling and trying to put on a good show, but I don’t think that all that is enough to cut it anymore, especially since all of my music is studio-made, and it’s a very long process to convert it into something you can perform live. It takes different equipment, you need to rehearse more etc. It’s too difficult for me to do, at least for the moment.

Taking that into consideration, I wanted to understand what was in it for Hærleif anymore, and what he remembers people will get out of his sonic creations.

I don't look at my music as anything monumental in itself, I just hope that people will connect it with the occasions in which it was played. By that, I mean remembering the occasion as a whole, not just the music itself. I find that there's beauty in the associations we create between the music we enjoy and the places and people we enjoy it with - it's certainly the case for me.