Information
Author: Mourning
Translation: Dope Fiend
Line Up
Jari Lindholm - Guitars
Sebastien Pierre - Vocals
Sweden is a nation that always gives us emotions in music. In his already very thick scene, now there is a new band that offering its contribution with the debut "Origin", they are Enshine.
Hi Jari, how are you? Welcome to our pages, do you want to tell us something about how were born and who are Enshine?
Jari: Hello Lele, doing fine, thanks! Enshine was born in the end of 2009, in the beginning it was a solo project but today the core of Enshine is me and Sebastién, doing more of the writing together. Also partecipating in the album recording were Siavosh and Oscar from Atoma.
Enshine is your outburst? This is the band in which you allow yourself to do everything you want? Why do you felt the necessity to create this project?
It is in way a personal emotional outburst, Enshine is the band where I put my more introverted feelings and thoughts. But I have some different bands also and different sounds and ideas belong in different places. I don´t think I could do all the different things in one single "forum" as the mixture could end up quite schizophrenic sounding. Also working with different people end up in completely different sounds as it is a result of the groups combined influences and so on. It was created because I felt there was something I could still contribute to this genre, and I still had a lot of ideas that hadn´t come to life yet.
The meditative and restless sound and visions of "Origin" are sons of the ones that have characterized the nineties. What are the listenings that have shaped you as artist and from which you can not detach yourself?
I would say it is impossible not to mention old Katatonia as a big influence, as being somehow originators of this style. Novembre is always a favourite of mine and have had a big impact on my way of writing riffs with ambient and arpeggiated chord patterns for example. It somehow springs from this style but with the addition of a lot more keyboards. Yes, you are right in that a lot of the influences are from the nineties, when the nineties ended I didn't find a lot of new music I liked for as long as maybe ten years! Now it has turned again in the last few years and I think there is again a lot of new interesting and great music coming.
The songwriting is only in your hand? And how is it done?
For "Origin", that is correct for the most part. I spent a lot of time alone writing for this album, at the time I had a great need to work by myself and to close out the world around me. It is something that goes in periods. Sometimes I have to work alone and sometimes another person has to be involved for the inspiration and magic to happen. I have since then started working more as a team with others in various projects again, Enshine being one of them. In purely practical terms the songwriting is done by recording and layering parts in the computer, programming temporary drum patterns and keyboards.
To work with musicians-friends like Siavosh and Oscar made easier to you to get what you wanted for your project?
Yes, Oscar and me had been in the studio recording for the Atoma's "Skylight" album not so long before, and the more you work with someone, the more you learn from eachother. Me and Siavosh have been playing together for years and we have developed a certain way of writing and producing basslines together that works very well!
How did you get in touch with Sebastien Pierre? And what made you think it was perfect having him in the band?
We got in touch via Myspace, partly by mutual friends but also by coming across and listening to eachothers music projects there. I was at the time looking for a vocalist and someone who could write lyrics for the songs, and he sent me some ideas for my demo tracks which I liked a lot. I was later travelling via Paris so I stopped by there and we hung out and discussed some ideas further, deciding to continue the collaboration in the studio.
The choice to include some instrumental episodes in the tracklist is geared to increase the atmospheric rate of the proposal? Or, in a simple way, these are songs that do not need words to express themselves?
Yes, the instrumental tracks are in a way bridges or transitions between sections of the album. Two of them are more ambient ones which are quite naturally meant as instrumentals by their own nature. Sometimes I also focus very much on the instrumental parts when writing a song and sometimes it may end up being so that vocals don't really fit, but the melodies carry the song anyway. I'm quite sure there will be some instrumental songs on future albums also.
The lyrics were composed by Sebastien, excluding "Cinders", and I noticed the ubiquitous melancholy of which they are imbued. Reading the lyrics and looking at pictures of the booklet, there is always a form of light that seems showing us the road to walk out of this state. Is it a sort of dream from which you can wake up with a more motivated conscience or am I wrong?
Interesting observation, and I think this is similar to what happens to me sometimes. Sometimes when working on a part or a song, I filter it through my dreams, falling asleep with the music on repeat. When I wake up after this kind of subconscious listening I often know very quickly what needs to be modified or added to achieve the kind of trancelike sound we're after. I guess this relates to the general concept of the inner world and the mind for example, both musically and visually.
Enshine are only a studio project or they have a live dimension?
So far it has been confined to the studio, but we are definitely open to the idea of playing live, and will try to make that a reality.
In your opinion as artist and listener/buyer, what are the strengths and the weaknesses of today's music scene?
I think the strength is that there are a lot of great new bands appearing again, and the weakness being that I often have to dig really deep in the underground scene to find them, a lot of great stuff just doesn't get the exposure it deserves!
Since you started playing with Libricum (am I right?), what differences have you noticed in the way of support music, both by the listeners and by the "industry" (labels, 'zines)?
It is really hard to compare the things we did with our first bands as teenagers, as we never released more than a few demos, played a few shows in youth centres and so on. That was one of my first bands yes, I had also a band called Abandoned, later named Needlerust, before that. But comparing then and now in a general sense, I guess there is less of an "industry" or "music business" nowadays. At least when it comes to labels, the mega-labels seem to be more and more a thing of the past for example. Many bands today need to have more of a DIY approach to make it work, especially for recording albums. That is one of the big reasons I have a studio myself, because I could never afford recording in this or that studio to achieve the quality I'm after. The biggest difference I notice about zines these days is that when one of my previous bands, Slumber, released it's first album, there were a lot more printed zines around. Understandably though, printing costs money and you can reach a lot more people online!
In many discussions among friends was pronounced the word "attitude". Let me explain: it seems today there is some shame in saying of listening to metal, being metalheads or wearing a t-shirt of the favorite band. What happened? Some years ago it isn't a worth the love shown towards this culture? This fast-food approach, which reduces the albums to rapid and useless passages in stereo, has also brought this scant regard for this world?
Yeah, I do experience the same phenomenon where I am too. I don't see a lot of people looking like metalheads around here anymore either, seems to have disappeared a lot compared to say, the nineties. I guess many find life easier dressing more normal, easier to find jobs and so on. I'm sure that my life would be easier that way too. Anyway, I'm totally looking forward to proudly wearing the October Tide t-shirt I just ordered!
Who is and what he does Jari Lindholm in his everyday's life?
I guess describing my everyday life it will sound pretty boring but at least I do something I love about 30% of the time! I live by myself in a small apartment, I have two part time jobs and spend most of my left over time and money on keeping my music projects running. I don't really do much else to be honest.
What are the future projects of Enshine? There is already something in the pipeline?
Sure is, about a week from now I'm heading to France again to continue writing with Seb for the next album. Really looking forward to getting away from home for some days, and hopefully it will be a creative writing session just as last time. Leaving the familiar environment is a good boost for creativity. When we have enough material we'll start making plans for how to proceed with the recording.
We are at the end of our conversation, I thank you for the time spent with us and I leave you the word one last time for a message or a greeting to our readers.
Thanks for an insteresting interview, I enjoyed the questions a lot! And to the Italian readers, saluti signore e signori!
