今は、10月に初演があるダンス・パフォーマンスの曲を書いてるの。あと、来年出したいなと思ってる新しいアルバムのレコーディングと、フィンランドのレーベルPai Tapesのカセットテープの仕事もしてる。去年、夫とのデュオPollotulkki & Hilloampulliでのレコーディングも始めて、今はファースト・アルバムの仕上げにかかってるところよ。時間があればLau NauとKuupuuとのジャムもやりたいわ。私たちのトリオIAXもこの春スタートして、ラウラの旦那さんが毎夏やっているフェス、Kiila International Sound Daysの期間中に、ラウラの近所のチキンシャックでプレイしたのよ。
日本のファンに一言お願いします！
みんなに会えるのを楽しみにしてるわ！
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[ENGLISH VERSION]
First of all, please introduce yourself.
I make music as Tsembla and play together with other people in groups such as Kemialliset Ystavat, Pollotulkki & Hilloampulli (with my husband Niko-Matti Ahti) and IAX (with Lau Nau and Kuupuu). I was born in Lulea, a small Swedish coastal town up in the northern bay between Sweden and Finland.
When and how did you start to create the music?
A little more than eight years ago I quit my job in Stockholm and moved to Turku on the Finnish west coast. This was a time of big change in my life, I had left most familiar patterns behind and taken a step into total newness; a new language and environment, new people and ideas, which was a great time to start exploring. Around this time I bought some recording equipment and started to teach myself to compose and record. I've been playing instruments since I was a kid, and in bands as a teenager, but this was my first shot at creating something of my own. I used mainly a cheap kids casio keyboard, an electric guitar, some hand percussion and samples from library records. I also started to make collages to go along with the sounds.
Your latest record "Terror & Healing" is so amazing! How did you make the music of the record?
Thank you! I don't seem to have a very consistent working process, but I often start looking for concrete sound material to use as a base for rhythm or texture. When I find a sound that inspires me I let it guide the rest of the elements ? I try to see what other sounds would fit, contrast and complete it and sort of ride it onwards, doing a lot of overdubbing and editing. I mostly include many first takes and imperfections to keep the music loose. I record on my laptop, but often run the sounds through a sampler and play them from there by the keys, or sequence them, run them through effects. Some instruments I play straight on top of the track. The method varies all the time, so the method is actually not so important. I'll use whatever.
What inspires you to create new music?
Like in the world at large, the paradoxes and tension between pattern and chance, control and chaos, are fruitful, perplexing and full of possibilities.
I feel your sound are consists of various kind of music genres and elements. What kind of music influenced you?
That is exactly it, I find interesting threads in many different musics that are all present in my own sounds. My main influence when I was starting to make music was Moondog, who is a great example of someone creating something personal and new out ideas found from very different sources. I listen to a lot of electronic music, traditional musics from different parts of the world, pop musics of all sorts. Maybe I'm especially drawn to music that combines different traditions, merge electronic and acoustic sound, and self-taught music-makers ? these things resonate with what I'm trying to do myself.
Your recent records were released by New Images. What is New Images for you?
New Images is a small label run by Matt Mondanile, nowadays based in Los Angeles. They release quite an eclectic selection of music, which is something I always appreciate.
What does "Tsembla" mean? Is this Finnish language?
Tsembla doesn't really mean anything. I picked up the word Zembla from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire. In the novel it is the name of a made-up country, from where the unreliable narrator claims to be the exiled king, though the reader senses that he might be lying, possibly insane, and probably even dangerous. Tsembla is how you might write it in Finnish and I thought I could be the unreliable creator of it.
You will come to Japan soon. I can't wait! I think this will be your first time visiting Japan. What do you think about Japan?
Japan has for long had a hold on my imagination, so of course I'm very excited to go.
Do you have some Japanese favorite artists?
I've heard a lot of interesting Japanese music from the eighties, artists like Mariah, Yasuaki Shimizu, Midori Takada, Mkwaju Ensemble, that have an interesting approach of combining electronic sounds, traditional or folk musics in a pop context that I can relate to. Then I really like Les Rallizes Denudes. And there are a couple of japanese composers working in Europe whose work I really like, for example Miki Yui and Hitoshi Kojo.
Can you tell me any Finish artists who you recommend?
There are so many inspiring people making music here, but just to mention a few: Myttys, Kiila, Tomutonttu, Kuupuu, Olimpia Splendid, Lauhkeat Lampaat, Pekka Airaksinen, Hockey Night, Taco Bells, SIIHHI, Pyloris, Elatu Nessa, Lau Nau, Antti Tolvi, Nuslux, Avarus... I'm probably forgetting many favorites now.
Please let me know your plan in the near future.
At the moment I'm working on a score for a dance performance with premier in the beginning of October. I'm also recording a new album, which I hope will be ready next year, and working on a tape for the Finnish label Pai Tapes. Last year I started to record as a duo with my husband, Pollotulkki & Hilloampulli, so we are also trying to finish our first album soon. If we have the time, I would also like to go jamming with Lau Nau and Kuupuu. We got started with our trio IAX this spring and played a show in Laura's neighbours' chicken shack during Kiila sound days, a sound festival that Laura's husband arranges every summer.
Please give a message to Japanese fans!
I'm looking forward to meeting you!
INTERVIEW in September 2016
TRANSLATED by Naoko Yamada
TEXT by Masato Hoshino
TSEMBLA
