Scraps of Tape – Photo by Henrik Hulander
With their latest effort Sjätte Vansinnet, Swedish postrock-band SCRAPS OF TAPE did what wasn’t necessarily to expect: they once again improved their production and songwriting and are now, more than ever in full-shape and highly aware of their abilities. We were eager to take a look behind this ever-present formation of passionate people and luckily, they took some of their time to answer us a few questions. Read here what they had to say about their newest record, DIY-ethos and the need to stand up and fight for a better society.
Hej there, thanks for taking the time – at first: Maybe you could introduce yourselves to our readers?
SCRAPS OF TAPE is a group of friends that have been making music together for about 14 years. Our sound is something along the lines of post-rock/indie-rock with a strong DIY mindset and a willingness to experiment and explore new sounds. The most important thing is to have fun playing together and make music we feel is our own.
You’ve recently released your new record ‘Sjätte Vansinnet‘ which became Album of the Week on our site – how was it for you working on it?
The whole process was pretty drawn out, with us working very hard in short periods of time. Most of us live in different parts of Sweden, so we usually meet up during weekends a couple of times each year to write and work on the music together. We recorded it during ten days in May of 2013 together with Erik Sunding in Malmö at Discrete Motion.
This album feels like the logical next step from our last album Resident Flux. We’ve sharpened the sound and wrote the new songs with a better understanding of what different roles we have musically in the band right now. Resident Flux was basically a live-album with all of the songs recorded live in the studio, and this time we worked more in the studio to shape the songs, while still trying to preserve a very ‘live’ feeling.
How did you come up with the title of ‘Sjätte Vansinnet’ (the sixth madness)?
The title was something that Johan came up with a while ago, that has several meanings in swedish. It’s a play with words where the expressions Ett Sjätte sinne (A sixth sense) and Vansinne (Madness) is combined to create something that means approximately The Sixth Madness. It’s a phrase that’s hard to decide if it’s something negative, or something positive. It’s a great description of what this band means to us. It’s something exceptional that we really are proud of, but also something that’s close to an obsession or madness in us, something we can’t seem to let go even tho it might be best sometimes.
What is madness to you – an exception or the rule?
There are different kinds of madness, it all depends on the context.
You mentioned it: In contrast to ‘Resident Flux’, there seem to be a lot more compromised and very ‘thick’ arrangements on ‘Sjätte Vansinnet’ – would you agree and is that a result of different songwriting or of another kind of production-emphasis?
It’s a result of the songs being pretty intensive in themselves but also a more focused and extensive mixing period. We worked really hard on the mix together with Magnus Björk to find a sound that really made these songs justice. The common thread between all the songs is the intensity, joy and madness that propels them forward. We think we managed to capture that feeling well and make the album very focused.