Again in 2023, Wobbler’s keyboard mastermind Lars Fredrik Frøislie spoke to Prog about singing in his native tongue and staying sane together with his solo album, Fireplace Fortellinger
“That was scary, man. Actually,” says Lars Fredrik Frøislie.
Because the keyboard wizard of Norway’s good Wobbler, composer for movie and TV, and a producer, Frøislie is a seasoned, achieved musician. However together with his solo debut Fireplace Fortellinger, he not solely performs all the pieces however the bass himself, he sings too. “I’ve solely achieved backing vocals earlier than,” says Frøislie. “Simply to launch a solo album below my title is frightening.
I had no concept what individuals would assume so it’s quite scary. It’s a totally totally different factor to a band the place I’m hiding within the again. Right here I’m actually within the entrance.”
Fireplace Fortellinger, or ‘4 Tales’, was born from the restrictions of lockdown. With nowhere to go and briefly indifferent from his Wobbler bandmates, Frøislie began making music in his dwelling basement studio. It was, he says, “to maintain my sanity.” Working alone was a distinction to Wobbler’s inventive course of, however that’s what Frøislie wished.
“In a band it’s very democratic,” he says, “and for the final three albums, we’ve jammed and labored off one another. You current one riff after which one other… how about this? And it could possibly take endlessly, for good or dangerous, however on this solo challenge, I wished to make it spontaneously and shortly, not ponder an excessive amount of, simply go together with my intestine emotions.”
Initially, Frøislie began with no higher intent than to place down some concepts he might develop at a later date.
“Thank God I had the great preamps and all the pieces arrange, so I might hold these takes,” he says. “I improvised and issues occurred, and it could be utterly improper to attempt to recreate one thing I’ve improvised, the spontaneous factor can be misplaced. I used to be very relaxed as a result of I used to be pondering: that is simply
a check, it’s a demo, so I’m having enjoyable. I believe you may hear I’m having enjoyable. Plus, my studio laptop was damaged, so I mainly had no plug-ins. I solely had the analogue keyboards and stuff and a primary recording laptop, so I needed to do it very old-fashioned. No click on tracks, no MIDI, however that made it natural.”
Because the music developed, Frøislie went backwards and forwards from drums to keyboards, capturing concepts because the muses whispered in his ears, deploying an arsenal that features a harpsichord, Mellotron, Minimoog, Yamaha CP70 and Hammond organ.
“I’m an enormous fan of those previous keyboards, plus that’s what I had in my basement, so I had to make use of them,” he says. “However I really like the sound. Just like the harpsichord, it’s hell, mainly. You’re tuning it for 2 days and it goes out of tune in someday. The identical with the piano. Then once more, that piano is kind of out of tune as a result of I used to be pondering, that is only a check. However I believe it’s charming. It’s not purported to be excellent. The Mellotron just isn’t in excellent pitch, however that’s the purpose. There’s an excessive amount of perfection lately.”
He compares the Mellotron to an previous, rundown automobile. “There are oil spills, it’s a must to push it to get going generally,” he says. “You’re engaged on their phrases otherwise you’re virtually combating them.”
The one instrument Frøislie doesn’t play on the album is the bass, which was recorded by Nikolai Hængsle from Elephant9. Frøislie began with synth bass elements, however realised the music was crying out for the distinctive tone of a Rickenbacker, so he picked up the cellphone.
“I assumed, let’s simply ask the very best bassist in Norway,” he says. “The worst he can say is not any. [But he said,] ‘Yeah, I’ll do it!’ He’s unbelievable.”
Every tune spins a story. Rytter Av Dommedag (‘Rider Of Doomsday’) was impressed by the legends of Ragnarök and a close-by landmark, a burial mound referred to as Raknehaugen that’s rumoured to be the resting place of the legendary King Rakne. Frøislie and his household took day journeys to Raknehaugen “as a result of my spouse had a college challenge about cultural landscapes. We needed to take these journeys to {photograph} it and it was simply such a magical panorama, it sparked the creativeness. Within the winter it’s a ski leap, it’s that huge, however the legend is that it’s King Rakne in there surrounded by white horses, treasure and so forth.”
Frøislie imagined Rakne being roused from centuries of slumber and coming forth to result in Ragnarök, throwing in different darkish legends for further spice.
“He’s like one of many riders of the Apocalypse from the Bible, there’s Oskoreia or The Wild Hunt, I’ve blended in all the pieces,” he says.
Much less apocalyptic, Et Sted Below Himmelhvelvet (‘A Place Below The Heavens’) is about eager for escape, a sentiment little question extensively shared throughout lockdown.
“You couldn’t depart the nation, however you dreamt of a hotter place, in order that’s a tune the place I’m dreaming away to a hotter place. Perhaps it’s Florence, it could possibly be wherever,” says Frøislie. “I’ve had experiences the place I’ve been someplace and it felt acquainted, like I’d been there earlier than, and it touches that as properly. Perhaps it’s simply coincidence. Even on my farm the place I grew up, [my family] moved there in 1950, however we did some looking and it seems a Frøislie lived there 400 years in the past, so perhaps it simply felt like dwelling once they purchased the farm. It’s a enjoyable thought.”
The cosmic Jærtegn, that means ‘Omen’, sprang from a Viking saga, “the place Olaf The Holy died on the Battle Of Stiklestad,” says Frøislie. The tune tells of riders speeding via a forest earlier than their carriage crashes.
“They die and at the moment there’s a photo voltaic eclipse, they usually flip into these ghostly figures and wander within the darkness. This was throughout winter and there have been some fantastic northern lights within the sky, and I imagined these had been the arms of those wanderers attempting to achieve for the Solar.”
The album’s closing epic, Naturens Katedral (‘Nature’s Cathedral’), was impressed by Harald Sohlberg’s Winter Nights In The Mountains, the nationwide portray of Norway that captures the mountains of Rondane, a picture that resonates with Frøislie.
“My spouse’s household has a really previous cottage close to there,” he says. “It’s like going again in time, there isn’t any cellphone sign, no electrical energy, we get water within the mountain stream, very primitive, and quite chilly. Within the winter it’s not doable to get there. Even in July and August, you will have a hearth going as a result of it’s so chilly up there, so it’s a harsh however stunning place. And a tremendous view, no individuals, just a few eagles, reindeer, moose, it’s spectacular. That’s the surroundings of this final tune. It’s romanticising that concept of going again to the wild.”
All 4 tales on the album are informed in Norwegian, one thing that Frøislie has been ready to do since Wobbler’s debut, Hinterland, in 2005.
“With the primary Wobbler album we had Norwegian lyrics and the document label, which was American, didn’t need Norwegian lyrics so we did it in English,” he says. “This was the proper time to check it out. There’s not that a lot prog in Norwegian. Norwegian isn’t just like the Italian language, which may be very stunning sounding, however I attempted to see if it’s doable to make this crude, barbaric language sound good.”
And that returns full circle to the problem of stepping as much as the mic on Fireplace Fortellinger.
“I don’t know how my voice sounds to others. I simply went for it,” explains Frøislie. “Mainly, this was virtually for my sanity that
I made this challenge. I might’ve left it in a vault and simply achieved it for myself, nevertheless it’s thrilling. In any case these albums I’ve launched, you by no means know when individuals will prefer it. To date so good. I hope you may hear that it’s very honest and heartfelt. It’s a pleasure challenge.”